£x Libris 
 C. K. OGDEN 
 
 SIR JOHN LUBBOCK. BART. 
 M.P., F.S.A , D.C.L., LL.D,
 
 
 
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 THE LIBRARY 
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 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
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 GERMAN LETTERS^ 
 
 ENGLISH EDUCATION 
 
 DURING AN EDUCATIONAL TOUR IN 1870 
 
 BY 
 
 Dr. L. WIESE, 
 
 LATK I'RIVT CODNCILI.OR IN THK MIXISTRT OF PDP.LIC IXSTRUCTrOS IN PRUSSIA. 
 
 TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY 
 
 LEONHAED SCHMITZ, LL.D. 
 
 CLASSICAL EXAMINER IN THE UNIVEUSITY OF LONDON. 
 
 LONDON: 
 WILLIAM COLLINS, S0N8, AND COMPANY. 
 
 1877.
 
 I.ONDO.V : 
 
 PKlNTEIi BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, 
 
 STAMlXlitU bTKElir AND CUAKING CROSS.
 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The " intelligent foreigner " who in these letters gives 
 us the results of his observations, and the impressions 
 made upon his mind by our educational institutions and 
 arrangements, deserves, for many reasons, to be listened 
 to with more than ordinary attention and respect, and 
 the suggestions he makes deserve our serious considera- 
 tion. Not only has he earnestly striven to arrive at a 
 right understanding and appreciation of our educational 
 systems, as he has testified by his repeated visits to the 
 schools of England and Scotland, but his extensive and 
 thorough knowledge of the educational establishments of 
 Germany, with the superintendence and technical admi- 
 nistration of which he has been intrusted by his govern- 
 ment for many years, point him out as the man who. 
 above all others, is competent to express his opinions 
 on the educational questions which of late years have 
 engaged, more than any other, the attention of English- 
 men, and which are still far from being satisfactorily 
 settled. 
 
 More than twenty years ago Dr. Wiese visited England 
 for the purpose of making himself acquainted with the 
 systems of education and instruction pursued in our 
 public schools, and after his return home he published 
 
 I 2 
 
 ■\(y-'y£^c>/:- o 
 
 Jt^-^fljl
 
 IV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 his impressions in a little volume entitled ' Dentsclie 
 Briefe liber Englisclie Erziehung,' which was translated 
 into English by Lieutenant W. B. Arnold, the son of 
 Dr. Arnold of Eugby, and published in 1854. The work 
 created consideral)le sensation, and was extensively read 
 both in this country and on the continent. At that time 
 Dr. Wiese was a comparatively young man, and one of 
 the heads of the oldest Eoyal Foundation School at 
 Berlin, the constitution of which greatly resembles that 
 of our ancient public schools. Dr. Wiese at that time 
 had the entire management of that rich foundation, while 
 his colleague, A. Meincke, as head-master, had the super- 
 intendence of everything connected with the instruction. 
 It was his connection with that great establishment that 
 made Dr. Wiese desirous to visit the English public schools 
 and to study their systems and arrangements. What he 
 then saw and heard in England, especially of the noble 
 work of Dr. Arnold at Eugby, as described in Dean 
 Stanley's Life of that great educator, filled him with an 
 admiration of our public school system, which would pro- 
 bably have been somewhat tempered, if he had had opjjor- 
 tunities of examining the actual working of other schools ; 
 but even then he correctly apprehended, on the whole, the 
 great and characteristic features of English public schools. 
 It is an excellent custom in Prussia to associate with 
 the Minister of Public Instruction men, as councillors, 
 who have large practical experience in educational matters, 
 and have given evidence of their administrative powers 
 in that department. Dr. Wiese was pre-eminently such 
 a man, and accordingly, in 1852, he was raised to the 
 position of Councillor to the Minister of Public Instruc- 
 tion. In this position he had virtually the superinten-
 
 INTEODUCTION. V 
 
 dence and the technical administration of all the higher 
 schools (hoth the Gymnasia and the Bealschiden) through- 
 out the kingdom of Prussia. After the formation of the 
 North German Confederation, and still more after the 
 restoration of the German Empire, his influence was felt, 
 more or less, in all the states of Germany. During this 
 last period it was found necessary to revise the scholastic 
 arrangements of the empire, and a commission was 
 appointed, with Dr. Wiese as chairman, the object of 
 which was to regulate and superintend the higher schools 
 of Germany, especially in reference to the privileges 
 enjoyed by their pupils in regard to military service. 
 Independently of this, he was appointed to prepare the 
 way for introducing in Alsace-Lorraine the German 
 system of schools, for which purpose he repeatedly visited 
 that country to examine its educational institutions. As 
 regards Prussia and the adjoining smaller states, to which 
 his services at all times were more especially devoted, 
 there is scarcely any public school which Dr. Wiese did 
 not personally insj^ect and help to improve by his advice 
 and his suggestions.* 
 
 In 1875, after having filled the office of Ministerial 
 Councillor for upwards of twenty years, Dr. Wiese re- 
 signed and retired into private life, not on account of 
 his age, for he is still a man full of vigour and energy, 
 
 * It may, jierliaps, interest some English readers to know that Dr. 
 Wiese, under the authority of the Minister of Public Instruction, has 
 published two works which alone contain official and authentic infor- 
 mation on the Prussian schools. Their titles are: 1. 'Historisch- 
 statistische Darstellung des hoheren Schulwesens in Preussen/ in three 
 vols., the last of which was published at Berlin in 1874 ; 2. ' Verord- 
 nungen und Gesetze iiir die hoheren Schulen in PVeussen,' 2nd edit., 
 Berlin, 1875.
 
 VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 but because, after a long official life of nearly fifty years, 
 he naturally desired, during tlie rest of his life, to enjoy 
 the pleasure of pursuing his own favourite studies. It is 
 not improbable, however, that his retirement was partially 
 owino- to his feeling that he could not conscientiously 
 carry out the ideas of the present Minister of Public 
 Instruction. 
 
 Being relieved from all official duties, and having 
 gained an amount of educational knowledge such as few 
 men can boast of, Dr. Wiese last year again visited this 
 country for the sole purpose of seeing what progress had 
 been made in its educational development ; for he still 
 follows with loving interest the course taken by the 
 educational movements both in Germany and in England, 
 being convinced that a nation's moral and intellectual 
 well-being mainly depends upon its education. 
 
 He thus came among us enriched with all his official 
 experience, and at an age when illusions have given way 
 to sober reflection. The whole of last summer he devoted 
 to visiting all classes of English schools, attending meet- 
 ings of teachers, conversing with men of all shades of 
 opinions on educational matters, and, in short, availing 
 himself of every opportunity of gathering information. 
 By this means he has been enabled to give to the world 
 an unbiassed picture of our educational condition, which 
 though not free from serious defects, yet contains ele- 
 ments which justify the hope that at no distant time 
 the education of English youths will be equal, if not 
 superior, to that at present given in the best educated 
 countries of Europe. 
 
 There ore a few points which Dr. Wiese, in common 
 with all true friends of education, would wish to see
 
 INTRODUCTION. Vll 
 
 reformed, and I venture to draw attention to them here, 
 because upon them depends the success of all our other 
 reforms. First, there ought to be a proper method of 
 ascertaining the qualifications of a person before he is 
 allowed to undertake the functions of a teacher. Hitherto 
 the possession of a certain amount of knowledge has been 
 thought sufficient, and the degree of B.A. or M.A. is 
 generally considered satisfactory evidence of a man's pos- 
 sessing the qualifications necessary to undertake the educa- 
 tion of the young in our great public schools. But there 
 is no lack of examples to show that a man may possess 
 any amount of learning or knowledge and yet be a very 
 inefficient teacher. In addition to his knowledge he must 
 possess other indispensable qualities: he must have the 
 power of communicating knowledge in a clear and attrac- 
 tive manner ; he must have sympathy with the young in 
 order to be able effectively to guide their actions and 
 inclinations in the right way ; he must be enthusiastic in 
 his profession, and not regard its duties, as is but too often 
 the case, as mere drudgery ; and lastly, he must be able 
 to inspire his pupils with a love for their studies, and for 
 everything that is good and noble. It is obvious that 
 these qualities cannot be discovered by a mere examina- 
 tion for a degree. 
 
 A second defect to which Dr. Wiese directs our atten- 
 tion is our present system of examinations, which has 
 produced that peculiar species of industry called " cram- 
 ming " or " coaching," than which nothing can be more 
 dangerous to the interests of true education. 
 
 I must leave it to the readers of Dr. Wiese's letters to 
 ponder these important questions, and to devise remedies 
 for the existing evils. My task has been simply to put
 
 viu INTEODUCTIOK 
 
 his book in an English dress before the English public ; 
 and tacitly to correct a few errors which were almost 
 unavoidable in a work which has to deal with so great 
 an amount of detail collected in a comparatively short 
 period t)f time. May the book contribute its mite to- 
 wards a iinal and satisfactory solution of the all-important 
 question of public education ! 
 
 THE EDITOR.
 
 FEOM THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 The following letters were written in England, but after 
 my return home tliey have been revised and somewhat 
 extended for publication. They were originally addressed 
 to friends who, from having been my colleagues for many 
 years, have become dear to my heart. The epistolary 
 form will be at once an excuse and a justification of the 
 character of my communications. Completeness in statis- 
 tical and other matters, even if it had been attainable, 
 has not been aimed at any more than a strictly objective 
 form or the precision of a systematic report. I have 
 rather availed myself fully of that freedom in the treat- 
 ment of my subject, which is allowed in letters to a friend. 
 I have endeavoured to reproduce the impressions made 
 upon me during many observations and on different occa- 
 sions, and to unite them into one picture, without refrain- 
 ing from giving free expression to my own thoughts and 
 recollections, as they were called forth by circumstances. 
 This is also the reason why the letters are called " German," 
 which is not an idle attribute. Without wishing every- 
 where to compare England and Germany, I could not in 
 my descriptions conceal either my knowledge of German 
 schools or the interest I take in them, especially at a 
 time when the union of Germany and the preparation of
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 an educationfil law for the largest of the German states 
 have called forth new hopes and new problems for onr 
 schools. 
 
 In our days there is danger, arising from various causes, 
 of schools becoming unfaithful to their duty as educa- 
 tional institutions, and of confining their function to 
 the communication of knowledge and the cultivation of 
 the intellect. But, however indisputable the right and 
 dominion of the intellect may be in investigation and 
 demonstration, yet in active and moral life for which 
 the young are to be educated, it very often happens that 
 the will is not determined by the intellect, which permits 
 itself but too often, under certain impulses, to be used 
 as a tool by the desires and inclinations of man. The 
 problem of education is to purify and to strengthen the 
 will. In England it has always been admitted that in 
 developing free and independent characters the school 
 and the family must go hand in hand, and that, accord- 
 ingly, the acquisition of knowledge is not the principal 
 object in education. The more recent development of 
 public-school affairs is taking a different direction ; but 
 in the old public schools, and in those formed after their 
 model, the same educational idea still prevails and bears 
 its fruit. To acknowledge this is no depreciation of that 
 which is peculiar to Germany ; and whoever looks at my 
 account as a whole wall find that it is impartial, and that 
 my only desire has been to assist my countrymen in. 
 acquiring an accurate knowledge of a foreign country, 
 which may be instructive to us by its defects as well 
 as by its excellences. 
 
 Where the present letters show discrepancies from 
 opinions I have expressed on a former occasion, the reader
 
 PREFACE. XI 
 
 will not, I hope, at once charge me with inconsistency, 
 for many things appear different when looked at from 
 different points of view and at different times. The 
 passages I quote from English writers are for the most 
 part intended to confirm my own opinions, for it not 
 imfreqiiently happens that the expressions of men who 
 live in the midst of the educational movement show a 
 dissatisfaction with the actual state of affairs, where my 
 own observations had led me to the same conclusion. But 
 as at all times only those strictures are just and fair 
 which are united with a recognition of the real value of 
 a thing, and grow out of such appreciation, the things 
 which I have said in praise of English schools, both on a 
 former occasion and in my present work, perhaps give me 
 the right to speak with freedom also on other aspects of 
 the subject in the manner I have done in these letters. 
 
 L. WIESE. 
 
 Potsdam, Novemher 1876.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 PACK 
 
 ]\Iotives of the Journey— Personal Meetings — First Impressions 1 
 
 LETTEE II. 
 
 Favourable Circumstances promoting a manly Education in 
 England — Self-made Men — Difference between the Higher 
 Schools of England and those of Germany — Agitated 
 Questions — Fundamental Features of the Character of 
 Englishmen ........ 9 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 The State and the School— Difference in the Historical Develop- 
 ment between Prussia and England. Effects of it in the 
 two Countries — Self-Government — Efforts of the Middle- 
 classes in Educational Matters — Actual Condition of Eng- 
 lish Schools in general ...... 22 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Conflicting OiDinions as to what is to be done — The Educational 
 Reformers, the Conservatives, and the Mediators between 
 the two Extremes ....... 82 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Varied Activity in scholastic Affairs — Provisions of the Govern- 
 ment and independent private Undertakings . . i7
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Survey of the whole Domain of the Higher Schools and their 
 differences in Degree and Kind — The Universities . . 55 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 The Universities continued— Eton— International Schools . 72 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 Comparison of the School Administration of Germany and 
 England — The Committee of Privy Council on Education 
 — School Inquiry Commissions — The Governing Bodies — 
 Dulwich — Schools of First, Second, and Third Grade — 
 University Reform ....... 87 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 Head-masters' Conferences — The Universities, and their Rela- 
 tion to the Schools — Local Examinatious — The College of 
 Preceptors . . . . . . . .112 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 The present System of Examinations in Universities and 
 
 Schools — Competitive Examinations .... 130 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 A Glance at the Working of the Schools — Plan of Instruction 
 — National Games and Physical Exercises— The Ancient 
 Languages and Practical Subjects {IleaJid) — Instruction 
 in Natural Science — Terence and Plautus in Schools — The 
 Pronunt.'iation of Latin — French and German — The Eng- 
 lish Language, History, Geography, Gymnastics . . 153 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 The preceding Subjects continued— Practical Schools (Ikal- 
 schulen) — School Books — Selection of Special Subjects — 
 Mode of Instruction — Results of Instruction — Holidays — 
 Prizes and Rewards — Reports — Discipline— Pupils' Maga- 
 zines — Fagging — Flogging — School-houses . . . 17G
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 XV 
 
 LETTEK XIII. 
 
 Eeligion in Schools — Biblical Knowledge— Ecclesiastical Cha- 
 racter of Schools — The keeping of Sunday 
 
 203 
 
 LETTEE XIV. 
 The Position of Teachers— Their Preparation, Examination, 
 Appointment, Salaries, Pensions — The Profession of 
 Teacher ......... 
 
 220 
 
 LETTEE XV. 
 
 Instruction of Girls — A Glance at America — The mixed Sys- 
 tem and Female Teachers in Boys' Schools there — English 
 Efforts to increase and improve Girls' Schools — The Edu- 
 cation of Women in general ...... 232 
 
 LETTEE XVI. 
 
 The Elementary Schools before and after the Education Act 
 of 1870— The Eeligious Difficulty — The Birmingham 
 League — Payment by Eesults — Uhe Education Act of 
 1876 246 
 
 LETTEE XVII. 
 
 Brief Eetrospect— School Legislation in Prussia and in Eng- 
 land — Public Opinion — Consideration as to what is to be 
 done at present for the Higher Schools in England — 
 Conclusion ........ 264 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 I. Examples of School Fees 
 II. A Plan of a School Organisation . 
 
 III. Examination Arrangements 
 
 IV. Examples from Examination Papers 
 V. Examples of Time Tables . 
 
 276 
 277 
 287 
 291 
 294
 
 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 ENGLISH EDUCATION, 
 
 LETTEE I. 
 
 Motives of the Journey — Personal Meetings — First Impressions. 
 
 Edinhurgh, August 1876. 
 After long wanderings througli the Island I will begin 
 here, in the beautiful capital of Scotland, to collect my 
 observations. You know all that had passed when I 
 formed the resolution once more to visit England. My 
 official life, which had been devoted to the youth of 
 Germany in my varied activity as a teacher and in taking 
 part in the highest administration of scholastic affairs, had 
 come to an end. During that period of my life, I had not 
 only become intimately acquainted with the higher schools 
 of Prussia, but in consequence of the gradual re-establish- 
 ment of the German empire, I had entered into a closer 
 relation with the higher schools of Germany in general, 
 and my official activity had extended even to Alsace and 
 Lorraine. The time had arrived when I had to look back- 
 ward, rather than forward, and when my thinking became 
 more and more a remembering. In happy retirement — 
 Deus nobis haec otia fecit — I recalled to my mind the 
 
 B
 
 2 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 past, and following the ways of the development of our 
 public schools in their connection with our political 
 history, I recognised in the progress of this striving after 
 improved culture more and more distinctly a manifestation 
 of the peculiarly German mind. 
 
 There is no country in Europe in which at present men 
 are not occupied with questions about education. More 
 perceptibly than for a long time past. Time now lays his 
 hand on everything existing, and it is as if education were 
 taken to account, as if its results were more sharply 
 criticised, and as if it were more urgently called upon to 
 assist in arri"ving at a better state of things. All that 
 happens in State and Church and in the wider spheres of 
 social life, urges those concerned — more or less consciously 
 — to think and to take care of the rising generation. It 
 may perhaps be said that this task has nowhere been more 
 deeply apprehended than among the Teutonic nations. In 
 Germany, the school has never ceased to be an object of 
 care with the different governments, as well as of universal 
 interest ; and in England, during the last few years, it has 
 become a matter of the first importance for the government 
 and private enterprise, which there so often competes with 
 the government. With the exception of Alsace and Lor- 
 raine, where at present the German school combats the 
 traditions of French culture, the active movements in the 
 domain of education nowhere excite as much interest as in 
 England. The cause of this and the course it has hitherto 
 taken were not unknown to me. The desire to compare 
 the higher schools of England with our own, had in former 
 years drawn me to that country, and I had ever since 
 remained somehow connected with its school-life. But 
 I was no longer satisfied with watching the current of
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. d 
 
 affairs at a distance; I wished to look into the actual 
 condition of things with my own eyes, to form, as it 
 were, the conclusion of my school-experiences. 
 
 The fact that our age has brought the nations into 
 closer contact than was the case in former times increases 
 their mutual interest, and a comparison with what is 
 foreign facilitates the right understanding of what is 
 peculiar to ourselves. And I think that he who does 
 not know England lacks the knowledge of one of the 
 most peculiar and marked types of the Teutonic mind, 
 a type which has become what it is in the course of 
 centuries through its natural relations and its history. 
 
 But we do not know the schools of a country by having 
 become acquainted merely with individual institutions, 
 their constitutions, etc.: we have to consider not the 
 isolated school, but its position in its connection with the 
 whole of popular life ; and this renders it necessary to live 
 for a considerable time in the same atmosphere, and to 
 allow oneself to be borne by the current of life in different 
 directions. As I wished to do this, I had to make haste, 
 before it might be too late for me. I will not deny that I 
 also felt it as a peculiar charm or instinctive impulse, 
 after a long official life spent in the service of the order 
 and regularity of a system of state-schoolsv once more, as 
 a recreation, to pass some time in the uncontrolled freedom 
 of the arrangements and conditions of English schools 
 which are almost wholly independent of the state. 
 
 Well, I have carried out my plan ; I have travelled about 
 in England and Scotland for more than three months, 
 endeavouring everywhere by observations on the spot, by 
 inquiry and conversation, to complete or correct my 
 knowledge of particular subjects acquired elsewhere, and 
 
 E 2
 
 4 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 to arrive at a correct judgment on the position of the 
 general questions that are of importance to me. In doing 
 this I have revisited a large number of schools and seen 
 others for the first time ; and I have, on various occasions, 
 by letter or by personal intercourse discussed scholastic 
 questions with teachers of different institutions as well as 
 vdth. government officials. 
 
 The polite reception which I have met with almost 
 everywhere shall always be kept in grateful remembrance. 
 During my former visit the recommendation of Bunsen, 
 tlien ambassador in London, opened to me many doors 
 otherwise closed against a foreigner. This time I owe 
 most to the sympathy of influential gentlemen, in England 
 especially of Mr. W. E. Forster, M.P., formerly Minister 
 of State, of Mr. Matthew Arnold his brother-in-law, of 
 the present Dean of Westminster, Arthur P. Stanley, the 
 biographer of Thomas Arnold; further of our learned 
 countryman. Dr. Leonhard Schmitz in London, and in 
 Scotland of Professor S. S. Laurie. But even with such 
 assistance, it is always difficult in this country to attain 
 objects such as mine were. In my former official position I 
 was able easily to assist others engaged in similar pursuits, 
 and it often happened that they were Englishmen. When 
 strangers came to Berlin for the purpose of making them- 
 selves acquainted with the Prussian school-system by 
 direct observations in the institutions themselves, and for 
 that purpose applied to the ministry, an open letter from 
 me addressed in general to the heads of schools in Berlin 
 or elsewhere in the Prussian dominion always had the 
 effect of a iMsse-port, and was respected even beyond 
 the frontiers of Prussia. As there does not exist in 
 England any such central school-administration^ special
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 5 
 
 access lias to be procured for every individual institution, 
 and the granting it always depends upon the goodwill of 
 the particular head-master. Very many things happened 
 to be specially favourable to my inquiries, among others 
 the fact that Parliament was this year more than ever 
 engaged on school questions, and that by special favour 
 I was permitted to attend these discussions in the House 
 of Commons itself. 
 
 Few Germans have received pleasant impressions from 
 meeting with travelling Englishmen on the Continent. 
 There is perhaps no nation that takes less trouble to be 
 kind and civil to others on such occasions than English- 
 men. It is quite different in the country itself. Even 
 here it often happens that at first the consequences of 
 their insular seclusion are felt, and that some time is 
 required to accommodate oneself to the traditions and 
 forms or conventionalities of their mode of life. But when 
 in personal intercourse the ice of their reserve is once 
 broken through, you discover below it^ — especially if, as 
 I was several times permitted to do, you take part in 
 their family life — very often most amiable characters, and 
 receive from them proofs of true friendship and readiness 
 to serve you. 
 
 In this respect also England is a country of contrasts, 
 and it is very difficult to form a just and correct judg- 
 ment of Englishmen. The longer a foreigner, who 
 carefully observes them, lives in the country, the more 
 cautious he will be in forming an opinion or coming to 
 a final conclusion. Any one may undertake to refute any 
 generalising assertion about characteristic peculiarities 
 of the people, with convincing proofs of the opposite. 
 In the most sober-minded practical man you will perhaps
 
 fi GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 to-morrow discover an idealist. With most unbounded 
 appreciation of personal independence they combine the 
 sense of strictest loyalty. It not unfrequently happens 
 that with all their calculation they appear fantastical in 
 their undertakings. How often have they not heard it 
 said of themselves that they do not know a disinterested 
 high-minded policy dictated by noble motives ; that warm 
 sympathy with other nations is foreign to them; that 
 everything has to pass to them across the sea, and is 
 cooled on the road : and now we witness this storm of 
 enthusiasm among the people for the liberation of the 
 Christians from the yoke of the Turks in the distant East ! 
 It will soon be seen whether in this case also the usual 
 political solidarity between the people and the government 
 of England will be proved by the acts of the latter. 
 
 In London itself it took some time to accustom myself 
 to the restlessness of its public life ; I felt that in com- 
 parison with former days it had immensely increased, 
 and at first I was somewhat confused by it. Even the 
 language seemed to be affected by the general hurry; 
 a very general stenography of the mouth more and 
 more weakens the articulation of the sounds, and 
 renders many things quite unintelligible to one who is 
 not accustomed to it. I was not surprised to hear some- 
 times, that, in contrast with this, the " distinctness " was 
 praised with which Germans spoke English. 
 
 During the last decades, London has acquired a very 
 different aspect through the erection of numerous grand 
 buildings. I also saw several schools, which had been 
 known to me before, in a renovated form. In the case of 
 not a few of them, it has been found absolutely necessary 
 to transfer them into more open localities, for the same
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 7 
 
 reasons which demand the removal of the Joachimsthal 
 Gymnasium in Berlin. The old Charterhouse School 
 had already emigrated from the narrow smoky region of 
 Smithfield to Godalming, in the splendid scenery of the 
 Surrey Hills. The buildings of the school-colony of 
 these happy Carthusians, provided in a most handsome 
 manner with everything necessary, has cost about 
 200,000?., including the land. Care had been taken to 
 make its history migrate with it : in several parts of the 
 new buildings I saw memorial stones inserted in the 
 walls containing the names of former pupils, especially 
 of such as have become celebrated. 
 
 In the case of other institutions which are likewise 
 expecting to be removed, e.g., The Bluecoat School, the 
 City of London School, and Westminster School, there are 
 greater difficulties, besides which, in the last-named school, 
 many attach great importance to the religio loci; but 
 the number of their pupils is much diminished in con- 
 sequence of its present unfavourable locality. 
 
 Eugby School has received so many external additions, 
 and has become so much more handsome in appearance, 
 that I scarcely recognised it, and everything has been 
 done with English solidity. I shall never forget the 
 day I spent there : it was Speech-day, the principal 
 school-festival of the year. The head-master first took 
 me into his study ; it had been the study of Thomas 
 Arnold. The recollection of that excellent man rose up 
 more vividly before us during our conversation there. 
 After the speeches (I shall have occasion to return to 
 such school festivities) about two hundred persons were 
 entertained by the head-master in the hall of the institu- 
 tion with liberal hospitality. Thereafter we saw the boys
 
 8 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 scattered over the large green field, partly playing, and 
 partly reclining in tlie shade of mighty trees : the whole 
 story of Tom Brown passed before my eyes. I have a 
 pleasing recollection of not a few other institutions on 
 account of the beautiful scenery by which they are 
 surrounded, as, for example, Mill-Hill School in the 
 fairest part of Middlesex, Harrow, Dulwich, Forest School 
 in Epping Forest near Leytonstone, Fettes College in the 
 neighbourhood of this city, and several others. 
 
 During my present visit I have had more opportunities 
 than before of observing the working of schools ; in 
 several I was permitted to be present during the lessons 
 and to put questions to the pupils, nay, in some cases I 
 was asked to conduct the instruction for a time myself. 
 The head-masters readily gave me every information I 
 desired, and were most obliging in their varied com- 
 munications to me. There is at jDresent great activity 
 among English teachers ; many men distinguished partly 
 by their personal influence upon youths, partly by other 
 pedagogic or didactic qualities, are engaged in the nume- 
 rous and large educational establishments ; and who- 
 ever has formed a closer acquaintance, to mention only 
 a few, with the successful activity of head-masters like 
 J. Percival at Clifton, G. Bidding at Winchester, Montagu 
 Butler at Harrow, Jex Blake at Eugby, F. W. Walker in 
 Manchester, E. A. Abbott and A. K. Isbister in London, 
 E. F. Weymouth at Mill-Hill, F. B. Guy in the Forest 
 School just mentioned, and others, can speak only with 
 the greatest respect of such representatives of England's 
 teachers. 
 
 I will now endeavour to arrange what I have observed 
 and collected in such a manner as to give you a complete
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 9 
 
 picture of the present movement in educational matters 
 in England. On my return journey I intend to stay in 
 suitable localities, in order to give to my communications 
 the freshness of the impressions of the country itself. 
 
 LETTEE II. 
 
 Favourable Circumstances promoting a manly Education in England 
 — Self-made Men — Difference between the Higher schools of 
 England and those of Germany — Agitated Questions — Funda- 
 mental Features of the. Character of Englishmen. 
 
 Edinhurgh. 
 More than twenty-five years have passed since my first 
 educational tour through England ; during a subsequent 
 visit, four years ago, I could pay but little attention to 
 schools. My present visit was, therefore, a second meeting 
 with old friends after a period which had wrought many 
 changes on both sides. We were no longer the same : 
 the English schools had entered upon a period of thorough 
 reform, and I myself, after a long activity in the ad- 
 ministration of schools, had arrived at an age matured by 
 experience ; I faced the same objects as a difi'erent man, 
 and looked at them with difi'erent eyes, and from a difi'erent 
 point of view. Nevertheless the foundation had remained 
 the same on both sides. The changes already perceptible 
 in the public school afi'airs of England have in general not 
 altered their essential character, or that of the education of 
 the young ; the force of tradition is too great in the country, 
 and the national peculiarities are too deeply rooted to 
 allow of radical changes. And I myself, thank God, have 
 not become so dried up by ofiicial work as not to be able
 
 10 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 still to contemplate, with tlie joyousness of a fresh and 
 susceptible heart, the life of youth developing gaily and 
 vigorously in the atmosphere of freedom. These letters 
 will discuss other sides of the same subject, and will often 
 be obliged to strike quite a different tone from that running 
 through my former letters. One thing, however, remains 
 — I must again acknowledge and praise the manner in 
 which Englishmen know how to guard and to strengthen, 
 in their boys, the germ of manliness; and, apart from 
 excrescences and perversities, the free and vigorous con- 
 duct of English youths is a pedagogic virtue. 
 
 The dark sides of English boarding-school life * are 
 well known to me; nevertheless it always affords me 
 pleasure to recall the impression made upon me during 
 this visit again, as often as I saw boys and youths amusing 
 themselves in the open air, and that not only in the manly 
 aristocratic schools like Eton and Harrow, but also in 
 other places where the pupils are of a more mixed set of 
 boys. Most of them with the fresh colour of health on 
 their countenances, their bright eyes, firm gait, without a 
 trace of constrained behaviour, were to me often a re- 
 freshing picture of blooming youth. 
 
 We soon discover that this condition is the effect of 
 a variety of causes which elsewhere are not combined in 
 the same manner or in the same measure. As among 
 these causes, physical exercises and games (such as cricket 
 and others, which aim at adroitness and strength of body) 
 occupy a prominent place among the customary means of 
 education, one might perhaps think of transplanting such 
 
 * The term boarding-school is here used in its most general sense, 
 including all our public schools where the pupils are boarded in the 
 houses of masters. The German expression is alumnate. — Ed.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 11 
 
 things into Germany. The wish that this might be done 
 has been expressed to me also during my present stay in 
 England by Germans who were able to compare the two 
 countries in regard to the physical training of youth ; and 
 in fact German teachers have repeatedly agreed to study 
 these games in England in order to introduce them among 
 ourselves. The attempts have been made in vain. The 
 conditions of life are too different in the two countries, 
 and we shall never be able to make up our minds to 
 devote as much of the time of our school-hours as seems 
 requisite for games which, after all, would not be a proper 
 substitute for gymnastic exercises. 
 
 English youths acquire a national feeling of indepen- 
 dence earlier than ours. I have never met with a vain or 
 arrogant feeling of self-consciousness at that age; but 
 they know that they are Englishmen, a part of a great 
 nation whose position commands respect in all quarters of 
 the globe, they know that they belong to one another, and 
 that in this national community the one may rely upon 
 the other. Things are not yet in this state with us ; but I 
 believe we are on the right road to it, and we may venture 
 to hope, considering the latest turn which our history has 
 taken, that this powerful agent in a manly education will 
 in our case also become more and more effective, and 
 that, not the proud, but the joyous consciousness of the 
 growing and increasing national unity will become more 
 and more active. , In England there are many oppor- 
 tunities for observing the unusual vital strength of 
 the people. This, according to my conviction, is the 
 Germanic element ; and in Germany itself, this same 
 vital strength, so it please God, is now — in the union of 
 its different tribes, previously separated to their own
 
 12 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 detriment — leading to a national rejuvenescence. I am 
 quite aware liow much is still wanting for such a state of 
 thino-s, what wrong paths have to be avoided or abandoned; 
 but our public schools can help in bringing this about, 
 principally by their strengthening the uniting forces, for 
 which purpose instruction in history and literature can be 
 applied with the best result. 
 
 At the time of Germany's deepest humiliation, at the 
 bec^inning of this century, General Gneisenau— who en- 
 tertained a high opinion of the invigorating air of England 
 as ref^ards manly education — expressed the wish that a 
 seminary might be there established for German youths. 
 Montesquieu traced the origin of England's constitution 
 to the forests of her Germanic mother- country — whence 
 German love of freedom had been carried over as a germ, 
 and had been developed and matured by the favourable 
 position of the land. In accordance with Gneisenau's 
 proposal, the gift in return— the model and the means 
 for furtherin*^ a vigorous and national education — should 
 be fetched from England. The thought had arisen out 
 of the distress of the Fatherland, and its impractica- 
 bility could not but soon become evident ; still it was not 
 so fantastic as what Fichte proposed at the same period 
 and for the same purpose, that boys should be taken from 
 their parents and brought into the society of eminent 
 men, in order that by the example of the latter they 
 mif^ht develop into nobler and more vigorous characters. 
 God has so directed the fortunes of the German nation, 
 that it is no longer tempted to think of extraordinary 
 means for its salvation. May it not miss the right path 
 that lies open before it ! 
 
 Gneisenau's proposal reminds me of the international
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 13 
 
 educational establishments lately projected in England. 
 I shall reserve the few things I have to say on this 
 subject for a future letter. 
 
 One of Thomas Arnold's pedagogic remarks most applic- 
 able to English youths is that boys differ from one another 
 less in talent than in energy. I have again found it con- 
 firmed in various ways in the country itself. In Germany, 
 in accordance with our better regulated school affairs, we 
 have a much more widely spread and general education 
 than is met with in England ; but in England it more fre- 
 quently happens that young persons who, owing to their 
 domestic circumstances, or it may be to causes for which 
 they are themselves to blame, have been backward in their 
 education, but being subsequently stimulated or favoured 
 in some way, exhibit a wonderful strength of will to make 
 up for what they have neglected, and by their own efforts 
 to do that which others could not do for them. Not a 
 few parents, even of the wealthy middle classes, give their 
 sons only elementary instruction in reading, writing, and 
 arithmetic ; the rest is left to the stimulating power of the 
 school of life ; and in many cases they are not disappointed. 
 The number of self-taught men in England is greater 
 than elsewhere. Self-taught and self-made men, such as 
 Sir Stamford Eaffles was, are still to be met with in Eng- 
 land. I have there again become acquainted with several 
 men in respected positions who, without having visited a 
 higher school or a university, have, by self-chosen studies, 
 acquired a very good and general education, and have 
 displayed great taste for intellectual interests and a sound 
 judgment, for instance, upon literary productions. The 
 libraries also which they had gradually gathered around 
 themselves were a proof of their intellectual aspirations.
 
 14 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 In Germany publishers complain that philosophical books, 
 and, in fact, works belonging to the more serious domain 
 of literature, are less and loss frequently purchased by 
 private persons ; in England this is not the case. With 
 us the reason may in many instances be the result of our 
 more limited means, as well as of the increase and the 
 greater accessibility of public libraries ; but the fact is that, 
 for instance, at the seats of the nobility in our country, a 
 good library is much less frequently met with than in 
 former days ; in England, among the educated classes, a 
 well-stocked library is considered an essential part of the 
 household furniture. 
 
 Englishmen can point to men like the one mentioned 
 above in justification of their voluntary principle, and they 
 certainly still estimate it according to its great value ; 
 but people have ceased to be satisfied with it either in 
 regard to individuals or to communities. It has taken 
 a long time to come to the determination to look into 
 the traditional ways and means of education, and to 
 recognise the necessity for thorough changes demanded 
 by the national interest, as well as by the care for the 
 public good. Even Milton raised his voice against the 
 dry formalism of the higher teaching and lamented over 
 the miserable instruction given to the children of the lower 
 orders; he demanded that the misapplied treasures of the 
 Church should be taken from it and be applied to the 
 establishment of good schools. His words were of as little 
 avail as the censure expressed in a similar manner by 
 Bacon, Locke, and others in regard to the traditional 
 school arrangements. 
 
 The history of the internal development of the higher 
 school-system in Germany and in England proper shows
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 15 
 
 a difference wliich is characteristic of the two nations. 
 "With us the Keformation created an ideal, in which the 
 intellectual culture, based upon the study of the ancient 
 languages, was closely connected with that ethical culture 
 which was nourished by the Gospel. In France also an 
 attempt was made to realise this ideal, in the Eeoles of Port 
 Royal, the only refreshing green spot amid the uniformity 
 of the French system of schools, forgotten by the French 
 under the oppressive weight of the Jesuitical system of 
 instruction, or at least not recognised in its typical 
 value. In England the intellectual side has, generally 
 speaking, at all times received lessattention than the ethical 
 in the form of the national. Attention is now more than 
 formerly directed to the disproportion which sprang from 
 this in the cultivation of the two sides, and people now 
 endeavour to make up for what has been neglected. But 
 while in Germany, even after the time w^hen the original 
 idea became obscured, and during the one-sided prevalence 
 of intellectualism, an ideal direction was nevertheless 
 followed, the present advance in England is more towards 
 realism. This is partly to be traced to the deep after- 
 effects of the influence of men like Bentham, Cobden, and 
 Stuart Mill, who, starting from different points of view, 
 have strengthened in the mental life of the nation, at the 
 cost of its ideal character, the taste of utilitarianism. 
 
 The attempts to reform the schools have been going 
 on in England for some decades ; but when I reflect on 
 what I saw of this in the country more than twenty years 
 ago, it still makes upon me the impression of a quiet course 
 that is but little disturbed. At the present time the 
 revolution is all the more powerful. Parliament has 
 taken the matter in hand, and has already developed an
 
 16 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 activity wliicli shows its effects in all directions. That it 
 should not as yet have been fruitful everywhere, and that 
 it should not have satisfied the impatience of many even 
 in those quarters where it is progressing rapidly, is very 
 natural. The task — after such a past history of its school 
 system — is extremely arduous and difficult ; and those en- 
 gaged in the subject, justly will not and cannot depart 
 from the English maxim that the changes should not so 
 much at once attempt to create something perfectly new 
 as to link themselves to what exists and transform it in 
 accordance with the sj)irit of the age, and that gradually. 
 It is confidently expected of the well-tested motive power 
 in the national life, that in due time it will cast off what 
 is decaying in order to replace it by something fresh and 
 better. 
 
 The beginning of a school legislation is made ; but it 
 was this very beginning that first revealed the difficulties 
 which have to be overcome. Hence in England at present 
 several of the same questions are being discussed, the 
 solution of which is occupying us in Germany. The condi- 
 tions of general elementary instruction, the question about 
 free schools, the religious instruction in elementary schools 
 and the denominational character of the public schools 
 in general, the relation of the State and the Church to the 
 school, the education of girls, the separation of institutions 
 for general and special education, and several others, are 
 there just as much the subjects of zealous controversy as 
 with ourselves. The question about proper middle schools, 
 i.e. about the manner in whicli the gap between the ele- 
 mentary and the higher schools can be most appropriately 
 filled up, is engaging the attention of Englishmen no less 
 than our own ; they too have their question about middle-
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 17 
 
 class schools, they too dispute about the advantages of 
 the classical and the modern school-instruction, about 
 the value of the study of Latin in the curriculum, and 
 about the most appropriate point where to begin with the 
 ancient languages in this curriculum, etc. ; also the ques- 
 tion as to the best arrangement in regard to holidays — even 
 the question about orthography is not wanting among 
 them. The fact of these questions arising simultaneously 
 in both countries increases the interest to see how the 
 same subjects will be conceived and treated there. In 
 regard to the main points the questions are such as 
 naturally spring from the general movement of civiliza- 
 tion at the present day. 
 
 On all sides of the great domain — from the elementary 
 school to the university — things are still in a state 
 of progress, and I may as well say, in a state of ferment ; 
 at every point also experiments have been made, and 
 many a thing has been begun which does not bear within 
 itself any guarantee of being able to last. Only in the 
 case of elementary schools a few fixed positions have been, 
 gained. It will be a long time before the completion of 
 an organisation of the teaching in the middle and higher 
 schools, and in the universities, can be reported. 
 
 In such times — which unmistakably bear the character 
 of a transition-period — it would require longer and calmer 
 observation correctly to estimate the individual pheno- 
 mena. A few fundamental features of the English 
 system to which I must at once draw attention, — a few 
 exceptions I admit at once, — and from which its merits 
 are derived, and which likewise explain what we, accord- 
 ing to our idea, must call defects, may perhaps serve to 
 facilitate the understanding of the question ; I can but 
 

 
 18 GERMAN LETTEES 
 
 recommend you to regard them as general points of view 
 for my subsequent communications. 
 
 The red thread that runs through the whole moral 
 view of life of Englishmen is the respect paid to personal 
 independence, and to all individual life ; this is shown and 
 expected everywhere as if it were inherited by birth in 
 accordance with an inalienable moral law. 
 
 One ought, they say, to grant to each individual the 
 freedom and the right to do his oivn work in his own tvay. 
 But as we live in a community, the rights of my freedom 
 cease where those of another begin. There is accordingly 
 no absolute freedom in determining one's own actions. 
 Moreover, an Englishman has enough of political wisdom 
 to know that for the sake of freedom he must sacrifice 
 equality ; hence socialistic agitations in general find but 
 little sympathy with the people. Further, his idea of 
 freedom is not so vague as to be irreconcilable with the 
 ready recognition of a higher authority. An English 
 teacher told me that when in Berlin he heard a speech 
 (delivered on the occasion of pupils having completed 
 their course at a public school), the conclusion of which 
 was : " Take with you as my last words : Preserve the 
 freedom of your judgment, do not give it up, not even 
 in the face of the highest authority," and he added : 
 " This would be too vague for us, we should think that 
 we ought to give to the young something more positive as 
 a guide on their way." In like manner, a few weeks ago, 
 I heard the late Prime Minister, Mr. Grladstone, while 
 distributing the prizes at King's College, London, recom- 
 mend to the young respect for the truths transmitted to 
 them as a sacred inheritance ; for that much had already 
 been thought and done before us, and that not every
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 1!) 
 
 one could, in everything, begin again at the commence- 
 ment. Freedom and right are inseparable ideas ; and 
 however strongly and vividly an Englishman may feel 
 both, still he assigns a higher place to duty. One may 
 hear people reason about this in some such manner as 
 the following. Duty is more ancient than right, the 
 latter presupposes the former; the sense of right and 
 the claim to it does not arise until man feels and knows 
 himself to be an independent being, and consequently 
 it arises after the sense of duty, which has been his guide 
 even before. 
 
 It is further a general characteristic of Englishmen to 
 feel a certain reverence for what has been historically 
 developed and hallowed by length of time ; they cling 
 more tenaciously to what has been transmitted in this 
 manner than is usual on the continent. Hence their 
 institutions often make the impression of a compromise 
 between what is old and what is demanded by the 
 exigencies of the time. It aflbrds a special pleasure to 
 observe among them everywhere the inter-action of the 
 forces of stability and of onward pressure. The sudden 
 transition from the liberal to the present ministry, now 
 nearly three years ago, is therefore described by some as 
 something instinctive ; after so many legislative reforms, 
 they say, the desire was to return to a more tranquil 
 course. Even liberalism in England has no inclination 
 to republicanism, but is decidedly royalistic. In the 
 seventeenth century the people seem once for all to have 
 passed through the process of revolutionary transitions 
 in the constitution of the state ; the revolution which 
 placed William III. on the throne was the conclusion of 
 the preceding one. 
 
 c 2
 
 20 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 TJie aversion to wliat is general in contrast to the 
 matter of fact or tlie concrete is very striking in the 
 English mode of thought. Although since the year 1870 
 they have formed somewhat different ideas of us, they 
 may still be heard to speak of the harren soil of German 
 generalities and " so-called ideas " as of something misty. 
 For the same reason they will sometimes ridicule the 
 German's trust in pure theories, as opposed to the realities 
 jf life and the actual necessity. You always look at 
 things in the abstract, they say ; we have to translate 
 them for ourselves into the particular and palpable. 
 Hence their definitions also, avoiding abstract ideas, 
 often take a realistic turn. For example, they do 
 not easily conceive the idea of freedom abstractedly or 
 negatively (freedom from), but straightway give it a 
 real character, and hence do not say it is, but it consists, 
 either in property, personal security, or locomotive 
 faculty. They have no equivalent word for Wissenschaft ; 
 for in their ordinary language the terms science and 
 knowledge are entirely different, and we all know what 
 strange use they make of the word philosophy. 
 
 The same difference is met with in the domain of 
 politics. "With us constitutionalism has not grown 
 historically and gradually as in England, but has been 
 imported ready made from France or Belgium ; hence 
 our idea of a constitutional state still has essentially 
 something abstractedly theoretical. Englishmen speak 
 far less about the state, as such, but all the more of the 
 country and the nation ; they do not speak of the rights 
 of a citizen, but of those of an Englishman. 
 
 The idea of the state has its stages of realisation. 
 England stands midway between the North-American
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 21 
 
 conception, which still contains an atomistic freedom 
 of the individual, and Continental Europe, which, e g., 
 in Prussia forms the state into a compact organism, 
 embracing all the ethical objects of the people's life. 
 England can never arrive at that tension of the idea of 
 the state now prevalent with us on the continent, because 
 the individual jealously guards his personal freedom, and 
 yet possesses a thoroughly patriotic heart. But the 
 tendency of the state to extend its powers is unmistak- 
 able in England also ; it is as if the state had become 
 more conscious of its duties and rights than it formerly 
 was, and as if it now acknowledged that the protection of 
 law is merely a condition of existence, but that much more 
 depends upon the object of existence, even for the interest 
 of the state itself. If the preservation and promotion of 
 the welfare of the community and of the individual — in so 
 far as this benefits the whole — is the task of the govern- 
 ment, then Englishmen are still far from generally allowing 
 this power over the individual to the government : the 
 individual must and will take care of himself. 
 
 In consequence of the above-mentioned peculiarities, 
 it is a matter of difficulty for Englishmen correctly to 
 comprehend any other nationality and to be just towards 
 it ; it has sometimes seemed to me as if they were afraid, 
 on such occasions, of being obliged to deny their own 
 national character. The insular narrowness, as they 
 themselves call it, keeps them too closely shut in to be 
 able to arrive at that large-hearted universalism, which 
 in Germany so frequently and so readily connects itself 
 with the Germanic fundamental feature of individualism, 
 that the excess of virtue becomes its opposite.
 
 22 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 The State and the School— Difference in the Historical Development 
 between Prussia and England— Effects of it in the two Coun- 
 tries— Self-Governnient— Efforts of the Middle-classes in Edu- 
 cational Matters — Actual Condition of English Schools in 
 
 general. 
 
 Edinhurgh. 
 
 Just as in England parents let their children follow 
 their own inclinations more than is the case with us, so 
 the state there, up to within a short period, also allowed 
 schools to act freely and to go their own way. English- 
 men are proud of the fact that their parental responsibility 
 has never been given over to the authority of the State 
 or the Church. In the matter of elementary schools 
 things have in recent times become different in this 
 respect. I wish you to remember, however, that my 
 observations principally refer to the middle and higher 
 schools. 
 
 We can distinguish a threefold relation between the 
 state and the school, and illustrate it at once by referring 
 to three countries : in England we have the relation of 
 absolute freedom ; in Belgium state institutions and 
 private institutions compete with each other, and the 
 latter are under no influence or supervision of the state ; 
 in Prussia, and in Germany generally, schools are es- 
 sentially state institutions; for those not supported by 
 the state, but by towns or other private patrons, must, 
 nevertheless, in their arrangements follow the rules 
 generally prescribed by the state. In order to understand 
 these differences one must turn back to the historical
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 23 
 
 development of the countries mentioned. I will here only 
 compare Prussia and England. The government of both 
 countries has become what it is by opposite paths. 
 
 In England the people, led by the aristocracy, have, 
 in the course of centuries, won their free constitution 
 after severe struggles, and it now is a republic with a 
 monarchical head. In Prussia, on the contrary, the 
 formation of the state was brought about by its princes. 
 The Prussian state — not comprised as England, from 
 the beginning, within given natural boundaries — is the 
 product, commencing with small beginnings, of centuries 
 of hard work on the part both of prince and people, 
 for which the latter had first to be educated. And 
 this its princes have managed to do in a masterly 
 manner. In order to keep together that which was given 
 under unfavourable conditions of nature, to extend it and 
 to strengthen it, the state required a military force ready 
 for action, and fixed internal arrangements with trust- 
 worthy officers to maintain them. Thus we can easily 
 understand the development of the strict and compact 
 Prussian system of* administration and of the three 
 general duties connected with it, the compulsory at- 
 tendance at school, obligatory military service, and the 
 duty of paying taxes. The state at an early date made 
 use of the school in order to educate the rising generation 
 for its purposes and to prepare its stafi" of officials ; and 
 about the end of last century, in the legislation of the 
 Allgemeine Landrecht, it classed all institutions together as 
 belonging to itself, regardless of the origin and the primary 
 purposes of the different institutions, and made itself the 
 sole school-administrator : " Schools are institutions of 
 the state." — The unity of the Prussian school-system is
 
 24 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 the result of the absolute monarchical government, such 
 as it has remained down to recent times ; the utter want 
 of unity and of connection among English schools is the 
 consequence of the unlimited freedom allowed to all 
 educational institutions. 
 
 At the time of the Keformation, and long afterwards, 
 schools in Germany made their arrangements in accord- 
 ance with the ideas of their founders, and with the wishes 
 of the towns, of course at that time under the advice 
 of the Church. Subsequently the state gradually placed 
 them under the supervision of its central authority, 
 determined the objects of instruction and ordered exami- 
 nations. Thus a compact system of schools and a fixed 
 organisation took place in the different schools which 
 had stood side by side without any connection. In 
 England this process of organisation has as yet scarcely 
 begun. About the same time when the educational insti- 
 tutions in Prussia became subordinate to the state, the 
 influence of the state in England — so far as it had 
 existed at all— ceased : James II. was the last to make his 
 authority felt in the universities. 
 
 The historical development in Prussia, as I have 
 sketched it, must give the impression of violence, and 
 of an interference with the rights of the Church, of the 
 community, and of parents. The history of the state 
 explains this procedure, although it may not be able to 
 justify it in all points, but this is a question I cannot 
 enter upon here. — One of the evils which, as it seems, 
 is inseparable from the control of the state, is the in- 
 creasing external uniformity of schools, and the re- 
 pression of private schools, which is the result of the 
 .'system of granting certain privileges to state schools.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 25 
 
 The existence of institutions which act with greater 
 freedom, and can set to work in a pedagogic manner, 
 according to individual requirements, more than is 
 possible in the case of the others, is absolutely to the 
 interest of the public and of the public schools them- 
 selves. However, an impartial judgment must admit 
 that the good eflects of the guidance and supervision 
 of the state outweigh all other considerations. The 
 true solicitude of the government for its internal and 
 external relations has created in Prussia, in spite of 
 its limited means, a system of schools that is held in 
 universal esteem, and is considered by many to be a 
 model system on account of its actual results. 
 
 The existing order of things has gradually, through 
 custom, become so interwoven with the views of the 
 people, that the guardianship of the state is not regarded 
 as an encroachment upon the people's rights, but as 
 a blessing. In England, when, as repeatedly happens, 
 I am asked about the efiects of the general compulsory 
 system of schools in Prussia, and whether the people 
 express any dissatisfaction, I can only answer, the people 
 do not feel it at all to be compulsory, they know of no 
 other form, and consider obedience to the state in this 
 matter to be a self-evident duty. I recollect a conversa- 
 tion I had with a well-to-do artisan in Berlin, whose son 
 attended a middle-class school, and was afterwards to 
 carry on his father's business. Upon my question as to 
 whether he approved of his son having at school to learn 
 Latin, which would subsequently be of hardly any use to 
 him, the man replied : " There must be some good in it, 
 my boy likes to learn it ; I do not understand anything 
 about it, but we are well governed, and therefore I do
 
 26 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 not trouble myself any further about the matter." Now 
 .this would in England be considered as a servile state of 
 mind, and the surrendering of his own judgment and 
 will as contemptible. But whether on that account the 
 private judgment requisite to come to a sound determi- 
 nation exists in England in a greater measure is quite a 
 different question. 
 
 While in Prussia, in accordance with its idea of the 
 state, the chief care is directed to the security, the growth 
 and the development of the whole, and the individual man 
 is taken into its service for this purpose, in England the 
 greatest importance is attached to the independence and 
 the free action of the individual, in the confident hope 
 that this will be of the highest advantage to the whole. 
 
 Who can dispute that in England this contrary 
 principle has borne its good fruit ? To help oneself, to 
 be ready to hasten to the assistance of your neighbour, 
 this is manly honour and manly virtue, and this is the 
 root of English self-government. In the strict regulation 
 of the continental system of officials, the individual acts 
 as the agent and tool of a higher authority, and is 
 bound by an oath to do his duty : in England the number 
 of men admitted to office in this way is very small ; 
 a voluntary undertaking of duties for the general good 
 is much more general than with us; the personal 
 responsibility is indeed greater in this case, but even 
 the greatest responsibility is not to a superior or to him 
 from whom a mandate may have been received— but to 
 the public, to public opinion. 
 
 The fruits of this voluntary activity for the common 
 good are just those which we have most plainly before 
 our eves in the domain of education. As in the case of
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 27 
 
 the Chiircli, the government in England does not, with a 
 few exceptions in Scotland and Ireland, give a shilling 
 towards the higher schools ; they support themselves hy 
 their own resources. How grand have been the under- 
 takings of voluntary exertions for the education of the 
 people is sufficiently attested by the activity of two 
 societies formed at the beginning of this century, The 
 National and The British and Foreign School Society as 
 well as of the Ragged School Union (since 1844). The 
 Archbishop of Canterbury was able very recently to 
 declare in the House of Lords, that within the last fifty 
 years £27,000,000 had been laid out by members of the 
 Church of England for the education of the poor. 
 
 However, according to the internal laws of human 
 nature, such forces as are presupposed by self-govern- 
 ment and the voluntary principle do not always act 
 with the same effect, and it is admitted by Englishmen 
 themselves that at present they are decreasing and 
 insufficient for the existing wants. This has for a long 
 time appeared most distinctly in the management of 
 the poor and of elementary schools. The former com- 
 pact connection and energetic co-operation have be- 
 come loosened in many places, partly in consequence 
 of political changes. The individual found himself no 
 longer protected against his own weakness, or supported 
 by the spirit and strength of his associates, as had 
 previously been the case. The reliance on self-help 
 diminished, and the discontent with the old conditions, 
 among others especially with the public and private schools, 
 became greater and greater, and made itself heard. The 
 press did its part to disclose their defects. Descriptions 
 such as those in Dickens's ' Nicholas Nickleby,' and less
 
 28 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 caricatured in 'David Copperfield,' likewise helped to 
 pave the way ; their effect upon the public was not un- 
 like that of Hogarth's pictures, and, in our own days, the 
 representations of the Turkish atrocities in the English 
 illustrated newspapers. 
 
 In short, the belief in the excellence of the old system 
 of schools in England has been shaken in the minds of 
 many ; men recognise more and more what is wanted, and 
 see where the shoe pinches. Moreover, they no longer 
 scruple to confess that other countries are in advance 
 of them, and that they have remained behind in the 
 race. Merchants and other men of business have assured 
 me that, with few exceptions, young men who had come 
 to them from German middle-class schools (Bealsehuleri) 
 were superior to English apprentices in their knowledge 
 of languages and geography, and in general proved 
 themselves by their school training to have become more 
 useful than English lads of the same age. This is the 
 reason why, at present, boys are frequently sent to 
 Germany to be educated, though they belong almost 
 exclusively to the middle classes, for which there still 
 remains very much to be done. 
 
 The desire for better, more numerous and com- 
 prehensive educational institutions for the middle classes 
 is therefore now much stronger than the desire for lower 
 and higher schools. The different causes of this par- 
 ticular movement wull become clear in subsequent letters ; 
 one I have just hinted at in mentioning what I was told 
 by business men. For a time Englishmen w^ere heard 
 to express a fear lest other countries with more 
 appropriate and a more extended education, especially 
 Germany, should drive them from the markets of the
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 29 
 
 world : hence the demand for a better education became a 
 question of honour and self-preservation. In my opinion 
 the parliamentary reforms of 1832 and 1867, and of the 
 municipal reforms, the results of which are becoming 
 more and more manifest, are of still greater importance. 
 In former times it was landed property which determined 
 political questions ; now-a-days it is more especially 
 capital, the industrial and money aristocracy. Hence 
 the increased political importance, together with the 
 effects of the absolute freedom of trade, urges the well- 
 to-do middle classes forward in the same direction : 
 the altered position of affairs demands a different mode of 
 culture. The more rapid general movement of our time 
 has likewise enlarged the horizon of many men ; their 
 former contentment with simpler relations has given way 
 to a more ambitious striving onward, which very soon 
 leads to the desire of further intellectual culture. 
 
 Many things thus combine to invite the state to a co- 
 operation to which it has not been accustomed during 
 the period of vigorous and extensive self-government, nay, 
 to urge it to take the initiative in making administrative 
 arrangements. Such has recently been the case in the 
 attention paid to the poor, to the sanitary affairs of 
 towns, to the cultivation of the arts, and other matters, 
 but probably in no department more than in that of 
 education. Formerly government did not think of inter- 
 fering either in the administration of counties and towns, 
 or in the affairs of churches and schools, but we now see 
 this happening in many places, and welcomed by the 
 people. It has taken up the struggle, with the approval 
 of many, against the lazy tradition prevailing in the old 
 public schools, and against the selfishness in the disposal
 
 30 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 of their funds, nor has it met with any considerable 
 opposition in its measures for raising popular education, 
 which are not very far from making attendance at 
 school compulsory. 
 
 We thus witness an exceedingly remarkable limitation 
 of the English idea of the state. The government of the 
 country has evidently been guided by the conviction that 
 while unchecked self-determination has a wholesome effect 
 in those regions of the population where the ethical value 
 of freedom is recognised, and is productive of good for 
 the general objects ; it is, on the other hand, dangerous 
 where it can easily degenerate, and by begetting crimes 
 become costly to the community. Hence the ordinances 
 which no longer permit the lower classes to let their 
 children grow up in ignorance and to run wild. 
 
 The symptoms of the beginning of a bureaucratic con- 
 centration and dependence upon state authority are 
 increasing in England in different departments of public 
 life, while on the other hand simultaneously successful 
 efforts are made in Prussia and Germany to limit the 
 predominating influence of monarchical ofiicialism, which 
 has for a long time rendered good service in promoting 
 the objects of the state — a limitation tending to self- 
 government through the rights possessed by the repre- 
 sentatives of the people and by the communities. In 
 the task devolving upon every state of reconciling the 
 demands of the higher and general good with the special 
 interests of the individual, England and Germany are 
 therefore now moving in opposite directions. 
 
 But if we except the elementary schools, public in- 
 struction in general does not in any way show a progress 
 towards objects clearly recognised and defined. An
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 31 
 
 extraordinary amount of power, time, and money, is still 
 wasted from a want of plan and unity. Men of intelli- 
 gence in the country itself, described within my hearing 
 the present condition of the schools in their wavering 
 between freedom and dependence as a state of anarchy. 
 How long will they be willing and able to tolerate it ? 
 
 It has often appeared to me as if we were facing the 
 question as to which is the lesser and therefore prefer- 
 able evil : the consequences of the want of connection 
 and fixed rules resulting from the freedom which has 
 hitherto existed, or the dependence on a well-ordered 
 administration ? 
 
 "We of the continent, accustomed to the latter, cannot 
 help wondering how people can be in doubt about it for 
 a single moment. But in England itself, the matter is 
 not so simple, even apart from the practical difficulties in 
 its realisation. One must live in the country, and be 
 familiar with its history, in order to understand how 
 difficult it is to decide such an alternative, seeing that 
 the nation owes so much that is great and good to the 
 voluntary principle. In the contest between freedom on 
 the one hand, and order and regularity on the other, 
 Englishmen will always be inclined to decide in favour 
 of the former. However, in the course of my subsequent 
 remarks, it will perhaps be seen that it is not necessary 
 to adhere to either alternative, but that there is a third 
 possibility, and that owing to the good each contains the 
 contrasts are not irreconcilable.
 
 32 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Conflicting Opinions as to what is to be done — The Educational 
 Eeformers, the Conservatives, and the Mediators between the 
 two Extremes. 
 
 Tarhet, on Loch Lomond, 
 
 After a tour through the Scottish Lakes, the splendour 
 of which still surrounds me here, I again take up my pen. 
 
 That England has entered upon its educational era is 
 clear from many signs observable during a longer re- 
 sidence in the country. The interest in educational 
 questions is alive in all ranks, and has just received a 
 fresh impulse through the last debates in Parliament. 
 Schools and education are an inexhaustible topic of 
 serious discussion, as well as of lighter conversation ; the 
 most different and diametrically opposite views have their 
 zealous advocates. I fancy it will be very conducive to 
 my object here to describe the present pedagogic con- 
 dition of England, allowing the most important of these 
 views to speak for themselves as in a parliament, and to 
 present them to you in the manner in which I have be- 
 come acquainted with them through personal intercourse, 
 periodicals, and otherwise. Three points of view are 
 easily distinguished : that of the friends of reform, that 
 of their opponents, and that of the mediators between 
 the two. 
 
 The call for reform is louder than all others. After 
 what has already been done for elementary education, the 
 condemnation of reformers is directed against the in- 
 stitutions above it, not excluding the ancient universities.
 
 ox ENGLISH EDUCATIOX. 33 
 
 Complaints are now esjjecially heard about the long 
 neglect of the wants of the middle classes: the lower 
 classes, it is said, are already taken care of by the 
 government with great liberality, and so are the semi- 
 naries for training able teachers ; the upper classes are 
 in the enjoyment of the advantages offered by the richly 
 endowed universities and public schools, and in them well 
 prepared and respected teachers are not wanting. But 
 the middle classes are not equally cared for, and here 
 we have the real spot of the missing link in the series 
 of public educational institutions ; the instruction here, it 
 is said, is generally left to private speculation, whence 
 the teachers in this class of schools have no share in the 
 respectability of those in the higher public schools. And 
 yet it is the middle classes — so says many a one of their 
 advocates — upon which the hope of the country is based ; 
 they lead the lower classes, from them the aristocracy of 
 the upper classes is ever renewed, and they afford the 
 greater prospect of furnishing leading political characters, 
 who are now not often found in the higher ranks. 
 Many talents, it is said, in this and other departments 
 perish from want of culture, owing to which the capa- 
 bility of self-government also is beginning to be wanting, 
 and the freedom of labour in all departments will not 
 become a reality until it ceases to be crippled by 
 ignorance. 
 
 It is proposed and regarded as a fair demand that, as 
 after all the middle classes contribute most to that which 
 is expended by the state for the advantage of the lower 
 classes, the state should also take the middle classes 
 under its care ; that it should at least erect a sufficient 
 number of houses for middle-class schools, over which it
 
 34 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 might reserve to itself the right of inspection ; and that 
 for the rest, a large influx of pupils being almost certain, 
 these institutions would be able to support themselves 
 by means of the school-fees, though they might be fixed 
 at a moderate rate. Others are of opinion that the state, 
 as in the case of elementary schools, should take into its 
 own hands the whole question of middle-class schools 
 and organise them according to its own views. 
 
 Mere institutions for instruction, a small number of 
 which have recently been established, are not considered 
 satisfactory by some people : they say the question is 
 not only about acquiring knowledge, but it is of far 
 greater importance that the youths of these classes also, 
 by a community of life and exertion, such as the higher 
 orders enjoy at the public schools, should become accus- 
 tomed to independent and manly ways, self-control and 
 proper conduct. For this reason they say larger board- 
 ing schools ought to be founded with simple arrangements, 
 so as not to be too expensive for parents. 
 
 Fault-finders censure not a few arrangements in the 
 higher schools, and their censure easily becomes an un- 
 just accusation. The public schools, they say, and the 
 universities are the cause of our material having outrun 
 our intellectual progress ; the majority of young men 
 bring from these institutions only ignorance, indolence, 
 and love of pleasure ; they are ignorant of what they 
 ought to know at their age ; and if such questions as, for 
 example, about some natural phenomenon is discussed, 
 they appear as helpless as they are wanting in interest. 
 The inquiries recently made about public and grammar 
 schools have shown a lamentable result ; the curriculum 
 is limited and antiquated, paying no regard to the pro-
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 35 
 
 gress of the age and the requirements of the time ; more 
 attention is paid to the body than to the mind ; and as 
 the subjects of instruction, so the traditional method of 
 instruction is unfruitful, devoid of stimulating power, 
 awakens no interest, and creates no elasticity either of 
 thought or judgment. 
 
 The old universities, according to the condemnatory 
 opinion of the same party, have forgotten their duty ; 
 they have become unproductive places of intellectual 
 indolence, and a capital opportunity even for wealthy 
 individuals to gain sinecures from foundations intended 
 for the poor. Young men, they say, neither learn there 
 to work systematically, nor do they acquire any taste for 
 philosophical inquiries ; they are either left to their 
 noble passions — " under the name of education, it is 
 simply the purchase of three years' more or less agree- 
 able residence at an expensive club," — or are pedantically 
 trained to acquire university titles of doubtful value. 
 In short, the results are glaringly disproportionate to 
 the enormous sums spent upon the education of young 
 Englishmen: " There is no department of human energy 
 in which there is such a pretentious display of power 
 with such a beggarly amount of result.'* 
 
 If some of these sharp critics are asked how things are 
 to be improved, they no longer hesitate to answer: we must 
 cease to be slaves to our idea of independence, and to our 
 national pride ; what is the use of freedom to a nation if 
 it is uneducated ? We require, for the administration of 
 all our scholastic affairs, a central guiding authority, 
 standing above parties, and we ought not to be ashamed 
 to learn a lesson from other nations. 
 
 In fact, the aversion formerly so general against every 
 
 D 2
 
 36 GEEMAX LETTERS 
 
 interference of the government in this department has 
 greatly decreased. The institution of a special Minister 
 of Instrnction has repeatedly been brought before Parlia- 
 ment (1856, 1862, 1868, 1874), hitherto, it is true, with- 
 out success ; but I am convinced that it is only a question 
 of time. The superiority of other countries in matters 
 of education is readily acknowledged by some, who speak 
 with great respect of Germany, and particularly of 
 Prussia, as they have somewhat corrected their concep- 
 tions of it through the reports of their countrymen 
 who have visited us and examined matters with their 
 own eyes. Such men do not hesitate to recommend 
 some of our institutions as models for imitation. 
 
 Those utterly opposed to the reformers cling with 
 English tenacity to the old tradition. They plead their 
 cause somewhat in this way : if you take from us our 
 faults, you also take from us our virtues. Do not 
 meddle with our old custom, they say; every new 
 school arrangement takes away a piece of old Eng- 
 land ; for in what country are the higher schools and 
 universities, such as tlioy are, so deeply rooted in the 
 national life as with us ? You want to change our 
 public schools into establishments for acquiring know- 
 ledge; but they are institutions for the education of 
 " gentlemen," for propagating " English feeling," and 
 honourable sentiments, an education which knows how 
 to unite freedom with order, and independence with 
 respect for public opinion. This is the reason why 
 they, like our two old universities, whose educational 
 problem is the same, are of such great importance to 
 the welfare of the country. Our young men make the 
 most favourable impression upon all foreigners ; not 
 
 1
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION ,37 
 
 only have the ambassadors from Japan expressed their 
 admiration, but from Persia, France, and Italy, princes 
 have been sent to ns for education ; they would scarcely 
 have been intrusted to a German Gymnasium, 
 
 Our public schools are very unequal, it is true, and 
 one is perhaps little efficient in one department, and 
 another in another ; but in place of its defects it has 
 also its advantages, and each in its own way contributes 
 to the great general result — to give to the young an 
 English education, for the honour and advantage of the 
 country. Nor is it to be regretted that in some institu- 
 tions the boys are less interested in books than in games 
 and sports, in cricket and boat-races, which strengthen 
 their limbs. What they there neglect in Greek and 
 Latin is fully counterbalanced by the word of the Duke 
 of Wellington — an alumnus of Eton — who, when once 
 re-visiting that school, and passing through the play- 
 ground, said : " It was here that the victory of Waterloo 
 was won !" 
 
 But if you point to the small amount of knowledge 
 which most pupils of the public schools carry away with 
 them after so many years of school-life, we reply that it 
 is not our intention to urge them on to zealous study ; 
 after their years at school, they have to work their way 
 up the steep mountain of life ; it would be foolish to 
 make them exert themselves at the very foot in such a 
 manner as to weaken their physical strength and elas- 
 ticity, and to damp their animal spirits. You further 
 forget that the close of the school curriculum is not 
 the place for determining the value of a school ; the 
 right place for forming such an estimate is to be looked 
 for farther on in life itself, Avhere the personal qualities
 
 38 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 developed at scliool have to he tested, as is said in the 
 proverb : " The proof of the pudding is in the eating." 
 To this the opponents naturally reply : it is life itself 
 and its present altered demands, by which we form our 
 estimate, and find that our youths are behindhand ; 
 and if we do not advance simultaneously with the 
 demands of the time, time will leave us behind. And 
 how shortsighted is it after all, when you consider that 
 firmness of character, public spirit, and kindred qualities, 
 which a man gives proof of in life, are described as merits 
 of the school which he attended when a boy, whereas 
 public life and the other circumstances through which 
 he has passed have probably contributed the greatest and 
 best part. "Why are you not equally ready to set down 
 the faults of the man to the account of the school ? 
 
 The same class of opponents in general form a low esti- 
 mate of the value of knowledge : man, they say, is wholly 
 man only in action, and can it be that the strongest 
 motives for action have their origin in knowledge ? It 
 is not what a man knows that determines his place in 
 the world, but what he does. Everyone must learn by 
 his own experience what is best and most serviceable 
 to him ; and the superiority of one man over another 
 will always consist in the culture which the individual 
 gives to himself, and not in the results of his school 
 learning. The only useful education, therefore, is that 
 which leads the pupil to learn and to act for himself. 
 I\Iost men are limited by nature to a few thoughts which 
 they have to realise ; to lead them into distant regions 
 renders them unpractical and unhappy. Many a one 
 has learned more than he has been able to bear and to 
 digest, and has thereby become more awkward than he
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 39 
 
 originally was, according to the measure of his natural 
 gifts. This is the sense in which the Duke of Wellington 
 is said, on one occasion, to have answered a young man 
 who wished some appointment under him, and wanted to 
 prove his ability by theoretical expositions, for after 
 having listened to him for a while, the Duke said : "I 
 can make no use of you, you are over-educated for your 
 intellect."* 
 
 The efforts to raise the lower and middle classes of 
 the population by better school-instruction is further 
 met by the following consideration. You assert that 
 the discrepancy between the political rights of these 
 classes and their ability to recognise and promote the 
 true welfare of the community, must be neutralised by 
 increased culture ; but you can scarcely have formed 
 a clear idea of what is understood by this. If you 
 think of intelligence only, you are on the wrong track ; 
 intelligence can make one cleverer but not more culti- 
 vated, nor better, nor can it supply an energetic will ; 
 it can afford no substitute for religious culture and 
 habits, which are far more necessary to the young, and 
 are the only basis for educating them to true freedom. 
 But as regards your desire for schools for the children of 
 the middle classes, you imagine the thing to be more 
 easy than it really is. You overlook the difference of the 
 claims which are made upon them, according to the 
 social position of the parents, and the different callings 
 for which they destine their sons. Do you really be- 
 
 * This may serve as a commentary on the following passage in 
 A. Tennyson's poem on the death of the Duke : 
 
 " Whose life was work, whose language rife 
 With rugged maxims hewn from life."
 
 40 GEEMAN LETTERS 
 
 lieve that the demamTs of tradesmen, clerks, farmers, 
 yeomen, &:c., will agree among themselves ? Nor is it a 
 matter of indifference that their children become more 
 and more estranged to the class to which they belong. 
 Even now the consequence of this education is, that 
 applications for an appointment with a small salary are 
 becoming more frequent in comparison with the requests 
 to be received into the different trades. In the latter, a 
 want of applicants is already beginning to be felt, while 
 the market where clerks and such persons are required 
 is over-stocked. Much school-learning is the most un- 
 suitable preparation for an English man of business, it 
 destroys his proper taste for it. Still worse than in the 
 case of boys is the effect of your increased culture uj)on 
 girls, who have then no longer any desire to enter into 
 service. And what is it after all that you have attained ? 
 Nothing but outward appearance and superficiality. If 
 things go on in this way, our civilisation is threatened 
 by a despotism of mediocrity ; have we not already 
 enough to suffer under the levelling influences of the 
 age of railroads ? 
 
 I have also met with individual instances in which men 
 raised their warning voices against favouring efforts 
 directed towards the acquisition of knowledge, especially 
 (jf the natural sciences, rather than towards sounder 
 mental culture, because, they said, the final object with 
 most men is, after all, only to gain more and more easily 
 in this way — to make money : modern realism conceals 
 within itself a danger to the life of the nation. Cotton 
 and coals are useful things, and so is money ; but to 
 direct one's mind to them exclusively has something 
 degrading, and prevents the cultivation of nobler quali-
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 41 
 
 ties ; it ends at last in the worship of the god Mammon, 
 who in England is already worshipped more than enough, 
 and more than the true God. This reminded me of what 
 Schleiermacher says of Englishmen in his discourses on 
 religion : " These proud Islanders treat nothing seriously 
 that goes beyond the tangible profit : they kill science, 
 and only use its dead wood for the masts and oars on the 
 voyage through their gain-loving life." 
 
 Connected with the above is the fear entertained by 
 many lest the study of the ancient classics should be 
 displaced by an education ad Jioc, which even at school 
 has an eye to the professional aims of later life. They 
 wish this study to be adhered to at Oxford and Cambridge, 
 as well as in all the higher schools, as the main subject, 
 and as a protection against the barbarism of a realism 
 devoid of ideas. The zeal with which many still vindicate 
 for the study of the ancient languages — in spite of the 
 often small results of the time and labour spent upon 
 them — the principal place in the curriculum of all higher 
 schools, may be compared with the determination with 
 which others wish to preserve the strictness of the 
 English Sunday, which after all is very often only external. 
 The common motive of both is the wish to have a bulwark 
 against the influences of a restless activity which other- 
 wise absorbs the whole man and threatens in the end to 
 deaden all his interest in higher and sj)iritual things. 
 
 But the time when the ancient classics still formed an 
 essential part of the intellectual food of every educated man 
 seems to have passed away in England as well as elsewhere. 
 Nowadays no one quotes Horace in Parliament, which 
 was formerly not unfrequently done : even Mr. Gladstone 
 scarcely ever does it. A teacher openly confessed to me :
 
 42 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 " We must not deceive ourselves, our youths have drawn, 
 their knowledge and their ideas of the ancient world not 
 from the original sources, but rather from manuals and 
 translations." But still this is no reason for not insisting 
 strictly upon the study of the two ancient languages. I 
 once heard a member of Parliament replying to an 
 opponent of classical studies : we now live rapidly, we have 
 more to hear and to say, and must settle many things in 
 less time than before. This has its influence upon the 
 language ; it is frequently abused for semblances of truth ; 
 often no clearness of thought answers to the rapidly 
 uttered word. It is therefore of great and even of moral 
 advantage to our youth to j)ass through a strict and 
 logical practice of the ancient languages, especially Latin, 
 provided it is taught in the proper manner. 
 
 Those who place their hope on the state for better 
 schools are occasionally met by English pride declaring 
 that this way would tend to disgrace free England, and 
 to weaken a national virtue. Such men would abandon 
 school affairs to the confused pretensions of the public 
 rather than entrust them to the regulating hand of the 
 state. To educate the people, they say, is no more the 
 business of the state than it is to feed them. Improve- 
 ments, so far as they are necessary and possible, must be 
 left to independent local action, to self-help, voluntary 
 efibrts ; then, and then only, will that which is new, both 
 in the schools and the teachers, bo respected and cared 
 for ; but the other mode of proceeding will be viewed with 
 distrust, and the willingness to give or assist on the part of 
 the public will cease, or be greatly diminished, when once 
 the schools are under state management. If the state once 
 takes everything under its control, then good-bye to all
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 43 
 
 originality in the conception and management of scholas- 
 tic affairs. All the great schoolmasters have belonged to 
 times and to countries, in which the state had not yet 
 laid its hands on public school affairs. What its guardian- 
 ship may lead to can be seen on the continent, where 
 people place so much reliance on the state that it has 
 become a kind of Providence to them. The people there 
 have become so unaccustomed, in case of distress, to have 
 recourse above all things to self-help, that on the occur- 
 ence of any calamity, e.g. of fire, water, bad harvest and 
 the like, they demand the help of the state ; self-reliance, 
 readiness to make sacrifices, and the efforts of the commu- 
 nities and other corporations are therefore very feeble, 
 and are not brought into action except with great trouble 
 and difficulty. 
 
 I have always been the more surprised at this jealousy 
 and distrust of the state in England, because there, more 
 than anywhere else, the government represents and 
 carries out the popular will. 
 
 The same adherents of the old English ways, when 
 looking at the German management of schools, do indeed 
 admit not only that sound learning and a desire for know- 
 ledge as such are more common in Germany, but also 
 that there exists a more thorough and a more widely 
 dilTused general school culture than in England. But, 
 they say, the same things are not suited for all, a thing 
 may be good in itself, but is not on that account good for 
 us : we have got what we want, not the best thing 
 perhaps, it may be, but the best thing for us. Do you 
 wish, they ask, that we too should burden ourselves with 
 the heavy load of learning, as is usually the case in 
 Germany, and that we should thus run the same risk of
 
 44 GEEMAN LETTEES 
 
 weakening the jirodnctive mental independence of our 
 nation ? The young in every country must be educated 
 according to its circumstances. With us, young men 
 enter upon public life earlier than they do on the conti- 
 nent. How many, when they have scarcely left the age 
 of boyhood, are obliged to go out into the wide world, to 
 India, to the colonies, or any other distant part of the 
 earth ! Their fitness for this, their ability to stand on 
 their own legs, to look around them with freedom, to form 
 a resolution, to take the initiative, and to act on their own 
 responsibility, would be diminished by a school training 
 like that of Germany, where, though the horizon has 
 become enlarged by limiting the powers of the smaller 
 states, youths may be burdened too heavily for their 
 journey through life within their narrower sphere. As 
 Germans in general, they say, even in their public life, 
 rely more upon knowledge and reflection than upon 
 practical life and habits, so they over-estimate school- 
 learning, while we attach greater importance to a training 
 by national custom and indirect means of education ; and 
 we do not wish to alter this state of things. 
 
 The often repeated reference to Prussia is to many 
 specially offensive. One still meets with the strangest 
 notions about the external and internal administration of 
 that country : it is nothing, they say, but a bureaucracy 
 and a tyrannical government-mechanism ; the cause of 
 this, the military character of the whole state, has become 
 a necessity on account of its situation between two such 
 neighbours as France and Eussia, but the consequence is 
 that the whole of the life of the people has fallen into 
 absolute dependence upon the state-power and militarism. 
 Some gentleman who had travelled in Prussia to make
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 45 
 
 himself acquainted with its scholastic arrangements, 
 exclaimed within my hearing: "In the first year the 
 state vaccinates yon, in the sixth it sends you to school, 
 in the twentieth it drafts you into the army ; and when I 
 saw that every school in regard to military privileges 
 belongs to a special paragraph in its military system, I 
 was reminded of the tablets on which one may read at the 
 entrance of every town or village the name of the military 
 district to which it belongs." 
 
 It is difficult to make an Englishman understand, e.g., 
 the advantages and beneficial consequences of the uni- 
 versal obligation to serve in the army, and many do not 
 like to be reminded of the fact that they too now have a 
 strict vaccination law, and that obligatory attendance at 
 school is already introduced into a large number of towns 
 of their country. Others again imagine that the striving 
 after mental culture in Germany, and especially in Prussia, 
 by a continual sceptical criticism of what exists, prevents 
 the accumulation of a proper amount of positive knowledge 
 and fosters discontent with the actual state of things ; 
 that a tendency to criticise is there developed wholly 
 disproportionate to the power of individual judgment 
 and of the individual will. Among teachers also I met 
 with many prejudices against the Prussian school regime : 
 " The administration is no doubt attentive and careful," 
 said an assistant master in a grammar school, " and the 
 authorities may be humane towards the teachers ; but 
 the feeling that you are controlled from above and are 
 dependent would be intolerable to us." 
 
 The disagreement among the schoolmasters themselves 
 as to the path to be pursued in introducing reforms 
 acknowledged to be necessary adds not a little to the
 
 46 GERMAN LETTEES 
 
 confusion which at present pervades the whole question 
 of school education in England. With the jiretension 
 of infallibility some claim precedence or even an exclusive 
 place in a school curriculum for religious, others for 
 secular instruction, others for the ancient, others for 
 modern languages, and others again for the natural 
 sciences or mathematics, &c., and speak with something 
 like contempt of all the rest. In Germany more 
 progress has indeed been made towards reconciling the 
 hostile parties, but we are still far from having effected 
 a peaceful settlement. 
 
 In what I have said before, I have mainly allowed the 
 two opposing parties to express their own views. The 
 number of those who occupy an intermediate position 
 between them is not small. Suffice it to report, that 
 they are not disinclined to give up a part of the inde- 
 pendence of the schools to the state, and to recognise a 
 higher power of administration. They demand a better 
 organisation of the schools, and a better method of 
 teaching, but they deprecate an increase in the subjects 
 of instruction, and will not consent to any change in the 
 curriculum, which is opposed to the spirit of the well 
 tried English national education, or which might put the 
 pupil in a position unsuited to his later objects in life 
 and render him incapable or unwilling to enter upon the 
 struggle of life which every one must pass through. Nor 
 do they wish to put any force upon parents in the free 
 disposal of their children. Hence, without breaking with 
 the past, they wish to improve that which has been 
 handed down to them, and develop it according to the 
 exigencies of the time. 
 
 In this spirit actual progress is making in different
 
 ox ENGLISH EDUCATION. 47 
 
 directions ; but the secular and ecclesiastical, the local 
 and central authorities are still far from being agreed 
 upon a plan that is to be carried out with consistency : 
 the vague subjective demands of individuals and the 
 claims of the community based upon reason and the 
 nature of things are still not reconciled. 
 
 LETTEK V. 
 
 Varied Activity in scholastic Affairs — Provisions of the Govern- 
 ment and Independent private Undertakings. 
 
 Tarhet. 
 
 The people of England have not waited till the contro- 
 versies mentioned in my last letter were settled : they 
 have acted. As soon as an idea of reform is there gene- 
 rally felt to be the expression of a recognised want, a 
 resolution is soon formed and the means procured. It 
 rarely happens in England that, when defects in public 
 affairs are laid bare in meetings or other discussions, these 
 are only followed by wearisome and discouraging delays ; 
 as a rule the refreshing effect of such discussions is action. 
 In this manner the people with its peculiar energy pro- 
 ceeded, and the education question soon took precedence 
 in the public transactions ; for a long time this question 
 had been obliged to give way to many others, but as yet 
 it has not been permanently driven back from that position. 
 It is very pleasant to glance back upon the last decades 
 in this respect : there arose a rivalry between the organs 
 of the state and private persons, to establish or prepare 
 more suitable arrangements in the whole domain of educa- 
 tion. Many things are gratefully traced to impulses
 
 48 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 given by the late Prince Consort. I shall not here inquire 
 whether in some instances the people have not taken 
 the second stej) before the first, whether in their first zeal 
 they have not advanced too rapidly without sufiiciently 
 considering whether the time had arrived for this or that 
 measure, and whether the wish and the desire soon to 
 make up for jiast neglects, have not sometimes preferred 
 to create something instead of allowing it to groiv organi- 
 cally. This side of the question will not remain unnoticed 
 in my further communications. 
 
 In elementary education, where at first it was most 
 needed, they have acted without hesitation and most 
 effectually. The action of the government and of Parlia- 
 ment in this respect has had extraordinary efi'ects. The 
 question demands a sjiecial discussion, to which I mean 
 to devote a future letter, so far as the subject in general 
 lies within the limits of my plan. I will here only make 
 the following remarks: 
 
 The state everywhere came to the help of those who 
 could not help themselves. Long before the Church and 
 the large school societies mentioned before had supported 
 elementary instniction as far as they could, the state in 
 the year 1833 for the first time came to its assistance 
 with a grant of money. The grant (chiefly for the 
 Imilding of school-houses) amounted then, according to 
 Lord Althorp's proposal, to 30,000/. (20,000Z. for England 
 and Wales, and 10,000/. for Scotland). Since then the 
 grant for elementary schools from the public treasury has 
 been increased every year. In 1874 it amounted, inclu- 
 sive of the expenses of administration and inspection, to 
 2,228,470?., in 1875 for the schools alone, to 1,548,563/., 
 and in 1870 to 1,707,055/.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 49 
 
 In how comprehensive a spirit the problem of popiilar 
 education has been conceived in recent times is clear 
 above all from the fact that the education question became 
 at once connected with the question of dwellings, and the 
 latter again with the question of communication, in 
 accordance with the circumstances of the large cities in 
 England, and especially of London itself. It was desired 
 not to separate the education at school from the previous 
 condition of domestic habits of order and cleanliness. 
 Houses for the working classes, accordingly, had to be 
 built, for which room could be found only in the wide sur- 
 roundings of the cities. The work was soon begun, and 
 the combined efforts of Parliament and of enterprising 
 philanthropical private societies have produced, in a com- 
 paratively short time, astonishing changes. It always 
 gave me pleasure in the suburbs of London to see the long 
 rows of such dwellings, notwithstanding their monotony : 
 innumerable small houses, each calculated for one family, 
 mostly with a little garden attached, like the cite ouvriere, 
 e.g., near Muhlhausen in Alsace. Barracks for workmen 
 are very rarely met with. These houses are let to work- 
 men at a moderate rent. But as the houses would be 
 unsuitable to them unless they were within easy access 
 to the places of their occupations in town, arrange- 
 ments have been made for running special cheap railway 
 trains. By these arrangements and other architectural 
 changes, London has been immensely improved notwith- 
 standing its continued extension, owing to which it can 
 even now no longer be called a town, but a large densely 
 peopled tract of country : the statistics of its rate of mor- 
 tality show that it is now a more healthy place than many 
 other large cities.
 
 50 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 The interest in the cause of popular education lias not 
 decreased in the course of years either in Parliament or 
 in the towns ; of this I had opportunities of convincing 
 myself, among other things, by the kind of discussions 
 which I have repeatedly attended both in Parliament and 
 at the London School Board. The result is in general 
 satisfactory. Most of the elementary schools are attended 
 by large numbers of children, and as regards England, the 
 remark which the American Minister, Mr. George Bancroft, 
 made to me some years ago in Berlin, is no longer true. 
 In America, he said, many are educated at the expense 
 of a few, in England, a few at the expense of many, in 
 Germany alone matters are fairly balanced. 
 
 The grand provision made by the government, for the 
 present confined to elementary schools, has been increased 
 by sympathising and liberal private efibrts. The gap be- 
 tween the lower and higher schools is already filled up in 
 several places by middle-class schools. I will mention but 
 one example of the manner in which such objects are 
 attained in England. 
 
 In the year 1866 a London gentleman, whose heart was 
 moved by the distress of parents who did not wish to send 
 their sons into elementary or bad private schools, and 
 could not send them to the expensive public schools, as- 
 sembled a number of men of similar feelings, and with 
 them drew up a plan of a cheap middle-class school. 
 Thereupon they applied to several wealthy persons, 
 especially merchants and bankers, with the request to 
 assist them in carrying out their plan, and in a short 
 time 40,000/. were subscribed. I have become person- 
 ally acquainted with the institution (Cowper Street, City 
 Head); during this summer it was attended by 1300
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 51 
 
 pupils. The society which founded it, The Corporation 
 for Middle-class Education in the MetrojJolis and the Suhurhs 
 thereof, intends to proceed in a similar way in other parts 
 of London.* 
 
 Some of the guilds also have lately established similar 
 middle-class schools in London and other towns. We 
 may expect that others will follow in London if the efforts 
 of the " City Guilds Reform Association " are successful in 
 restoring the funds, parts of which have been applied to 
 other objects, to their original educational purpose. In 
 other already existing schools separate classes for objects 
 similar to those of middle-class schools have been added. 
 In this manner day schools, the sole object of which is to 
 give instruction, have been much increased in number, 
 by the side of the numerous boarding establishments. I 
 might mention not a small number of grammar schools 
 which have been established within the last twenty years, 
 and are mainly constituted as middle-class schools. The 
 South Kensington Museum also has done much by lec- 
 tures and otherwise to promote instruction in practical 
 matters. 
 
 Among the recent associations for founding schools, I 
 
 * "The iuteution is, to provide for boys who are destined for com- 
 mercial life, such liberal course of instruction as shall be most useful 
 to them hereafter, as well as to educate them in those habits of 
 thought and discipline which will best ensure their future success. 
 The course of instruction will include the English language and 
 literature, history and commercial geography, mathematics, surveying, 
 arithmetic, writing, book-keeping, chemistry, drawing (engineering 
 and architectural), French, and vocal music ; also the elements of 
 physical science, — Classes for Latin, German, Hebrew, shorthand, 
 home-lessons, advanced drawing, and violin, are held immediately after 
 school-hours on special but easy terms. — The terms, strictly inclusive 
 for all other advantages of the school, are twenty-five shillings per 
 quarter (paid in advance)." 
 
 E 2
 
 52 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 will only mention tlie corporation of Saint Marij and 
 Saint Nicholas, whicli lias considerable funds at its dis- 
 posal ; it proposes to provide in five different districts of 
 tlie country public school education on tlie principles of 
 the Church of England, according to the wants of the 
 different classes, and has already called into existence 
 several institutions. An "Association for the Pro- 
 motion of Secondary Education in Scotland " has been 
 formed quite recently. 
 
 During the last few years much attention and support 
 has also been given to the long neglected education of 
 females. Associations for it, as well as for the promotion 
 of other educational ol)jects, have been formed in several 
 places, especially for the benefit of those not possessing 
 ample means. Among these are Literary and Scientific 
 Institutes, Mechanics' Institutions, evening classes for 
 adults, &c. There is now scarcely a town that does not 
 possess such institutions, and the wealthy classes are 
 generally very liberal in providing them with teaching 
 apparatus, maps, photographs, and the like. Nor are 
 there wanting new foundations and funds for the support 
 of poor boys of talent. — There is scarcely any public school 
 without its scholarships, school and university bursaries, 
 or exhibitions. The Charterhouse School has now sixty 
 scholarships (thirty for boys of the ages between twelve 
 and fourteen, amounting to 60Z. each, and thirty for boys 
 between the ages of fourteen and sixteen, amounting to 
 80Z. each). The guilds of the goldsmiths, grocers, fish- 
 mongers, broderers, skinners, and glass-sellers, have, during 
 the last few years, contributed towards the exhibitions of 
 the City of London School, to induce youths to proceed to 
 the universities.
 
 ON EXGLISH EDUCATION. 53 
 
 Sunday/ schools have been greatly extended, and are not 
 limited to children or to religious instruction. The 
 following circumstance may serve as a proof of the kindly 
 and ready disposition to do good to these and similar 
 schools. When the head of such an institution appeals to 
 the public to enable him to give an outing to his many 
 poor children, the appeal is scarcely ever made in vain. 
 My impression is that Englishmen are decidedly kindly 
 disposed towards schools. 
 
 The conferences of head-masters are also deserving of 
 notice as a sign of the united pedagogic efforts among 
 the teachers themselves. For some years past the head- 
 masters of many of the higher schools have met at dif- 
 ferent places towards the end of December to deliberate 
 on matters of common interest. The College of Preceptors 
 in London has greatly extended its sphere of action during 
 the last few years. Chairs of pedagogics have recently 
 been established in the universities of Edinburgh and 
 St. Andrews, and in London a society has been formed for 
 the development of the science of education. 
 
 Later on I shall have occasion to say more upon the 
 subjects I have here briefly mentioned, as well as upon the 
 great influence already exercised by the inquiries ordered 
 by the government into the constitution, the functions, 
 the property, and the administration of the public schools 
 of every kind, as well as of many private institutions. The 
 universities are not exempted from these general inquiries, 
 and it is well known that many restrictions formerly 
 imposed upon attendance at the universities have already 
 been removed. 
 
 Other important government measures are connected 
 with the intention to raise the general standard of culture,
 
 54 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 especially iu tlic civil and military services. I allude to 
 the abolition of the system of purchasing places in the 
 army, and to the regulation that, after the abolition of 
 former privileges, the career in the civil and military 
 services is open to all, and that appointments are given 
 only according to the results of competitive examinations. 
 I will close these hints about the great activity which 
 has for some years prevailed upon the whole wide domain 
 of education in England, with the report of a conversation. 
 It was an agreeable surprise to me at an evening party in 
 London, to meet an English lady whose acquaintance I 
 had made at Eome. After a long sojourn in Italy she 
 had also spent some years in Germany, and by this means 
 she had enlarged her intellectual horizon and acquired a 
 fine understanding and appreciation of national peculi- 
 arities, more so than many of her countrymen do during 
 their travels on the continent. "Sometimes," she said, "I 
 feel like a stranger in my own country; the early acquired 
 seriousness of my countrymen makes me uneasy ; they all. 
 agree, without expressing it, that it is necessary, not only 
 to practise inward self-control, but to suppress all outward 
 signs of feeling ; they claim such a large measure of 
 freedom for life, and yet put on themselves so much social 
 restraint. Oh, if they had but a little of the disinvoltura 
 of the Italians and the heartfelt {gemiUlivoUen) sympathy 
 of the Germans ! But we have not even a word for 
 Gemicth. This is beyond the question about pedagogics. 
 But otherwise pedagogics are now en vogue among us; 
 you have come at the right time. I am delighted at this 
 general movement which has already successfully stimu- 
 lated many energies and produced beneficial efi'ects, 
 though in some directions its course may be without
 
 ox ENGLISH EDUCATION. 55 
 
 definite objects and results. Pedagogic enthusiasts, for 
 example, have suddenly imported among us their Kinder- 
 garten, and in their hurry have taken the name together 
 with the thing; we have the Kindergarten system, 
 Kindergarten teachers. Kindergarten examinations, and 
 even a Frobel Society. But the thing is as un-English 
 as possible. All modes of taking care of children and 
 guarding them for families which cannot do it themselves, 
 are certainly deserving of praise ; and infant schools may 
 learn much that is good from the Kindergarten ; but to 
 undertake this care for families which are well able to 
 educate their children, to make them sit still, and among 
 other things to teach them to play systematically and 
 rationally, &c., instead of leaving them to their own 
 pleasure and fancy and allowing them to grow up like the 
 flowers of the field and the trees of the forest — this is a 
 pedagogic importunity which I would keep far away from 
 my house; I hope the affair may not be lasting in 
 England." 
 
 These expressions were to me as unexpected as they 
 were welcome. 
 
 LETTEE VI. 
 
 Siirvey of the whole domain of the Higher Schools and theii- 
 differences in Degree and Kind — The Universities. 
 
 Whitby, in Yorkshire. 
 
 Nowhere has the distribution of the higher schools 
 
 over the country been made with that regularity with 
 
 which, for example, a garden is laid out : everywhere the 
 
 free historical development has produced great inequalities,
 
 56 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 but nowhere is the inequality of the distribution as great 
 as in England. In some parts schools of the most different 
 kinds exist in close j)roximity, whereas large districts 
 are entirely Avithout any. Whence, on surveying the 
 whole, we at first receive the impression of a scattered 
 variety without order. At the same time, however, if we 
 do not take into consideration mere private enterprise 
 and pedagogic industry, we are filled with admiration at 
 the many great things which the love for the young and 
 the interest in their education have done in England 
 during past centuries. In no country in the whole world 
 have so many foundations for this object been made, 
 partly by individuals and partly by associations. The 
 higher schools in England proper have almost exclusively 
 sprung from such an origin ; nowhere, moreover, as I had 
 occasion to mention in my last letter, is the number and 
 the amount of scholarships and similar bequests founded 
 for the attendance at schools and universities as large 
 as in England ; it is proportionately much smaller in 
 Scotland. This does not, however, prove that the higher 
 instruction is sufficiently provided for, and in comparison 
 with Prussia, for example, one higher school exists in 
 England only for a much larger number of inhabitants. 
 
 It is impossible to make an accurate statistical calcula- 
 tion of the proportion of the number of higher schools to 
 the population or to the area of the different parts of the 
 country, partly because there is no fixed definition of a 
 higher school, and partly because no distinct lines of 
 demarcation can be drawn either between the higher, the 
 middle, and elementary schools, or between them and the 
 universities. It will soon be clear that on both sides the 
 limits are fluctuating. I will now endeavour to give an out-
 
 ox ENGLISH EDUCATION. 5< 
 
 line of the whole domain of the higher schools in England, 
 and to indicate characteristics for making a division. 
 
 I reckon among them all those institutions whose aims 
 are higher than those of the elementary schools, which, 
 independent of religious instruction, satisfy the humblest 
 wants by instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic. 
 Instruction in foreign languages will therefore be one of 
 the characteristic marks of a higher school. The most 
 obvious differences in England as elsewhere are those of 
 degree and kind. I will first give a general survey of 
 both, and then add a few observations on the different 
 forms comprised in them. 
 
 According to the degree and extent of the offered 
 means of higher education, the Elementary school is suc- 
 ceeded first by the Middle-class school, corresponding to 
 the German town-schools, higher Burger schulen and Pro- 
 Gtjmnasia; and further on, the Public and Grammar schools, 
 which correspond to the German Gymnasia and Bealschtden. 
 Next follow the Collegiate Institutions and University 
 Colleges, whose character is a mixture of school and uni- 
 versity, or comprise both forms though separated from 
 each other. Lastly, the Universities themselves and the 
 special institutions for future clergymen, lawyers, and 
 medical men. 
 
 The difference in degree of the institutions here men- 
 tioned, however, is intended to give only what actually 
 exists, and not a graduation in the course of study. 
 
 Among the numerous differences in kind I mention first 
 those of sex : they are higher institutions both for boys 
 and for girls, and mixed ones for both ; according to their 
 origin they are church-schools, town-schools, foundations, 
 endowed schools, charities and others ; according to their
 
 58 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 destination for edncation and indruction, or for the latter 
 only, they are boarding and day schools ; according to 
 their course of study they are either of a classical or of a 
 realistic tendency, and those in which there is a combina- 
 tion of both ; they may further be distinguished according 
 to their denominational character; according to their 
 patronage andi property: public, proprietary, private schools ; 
 according to local dtstinatian, inasmuch as a school may be 
 specially or exclusively destined for a single locality or for 
 a larger district (county schools) ; and lastly according to 
 ranlis : for the upper and middle classes, in which the 
 difference of expense for instruction and education is an im- 
 portant item. A special kind of schools which have arisen 
 in modern times are the so-called international schools. 
 
 As in regard to the difference of degree, so also in 
 regard to the difference of kind, there are of course schools 
 which may be said to stand on the borderland. Such are 
 the professional schools whose course of study also embraces 
 general instruction, for example, polytechnic, agricultural 
 and military schools. 
 
 Following upon the whole the above order, I will now 
 add some remarks about the special kinds of schools 
 and the circumstances connected with them. 
 
 That the domain of Elementary schools is not strictly 
 separated from that of the higher instruction is shown 
 by the subjects prescribed to them by the government 
 as well as by the traditional custom prevailing in all 
 parts of the country, but especially in Scotland ; every- 
 where the curriculum in particular institutions also 
 embraces elements of higher instruction, at least, as 
 optional subjects. The schools of the National and the 
 British Society in their higher classes partake of the
 
 ON EXGLISH EDUCATION. 59 
 
 cliaracter of middle-class schools ; and the elementary 
 schools, called after Dr. Birkbeck their founder, (without 
 religious instruction), include in their curriculum also 
 French, chemistry, experimental philosophy, social science, 
 &c., and are in reality preparatory technical schools. 
 
 A classification of schools is least possible in Scotland. 
 The parish-school system is there the foundation of 
 public schools. John Knox connected the necessity 
 of popular education with the reformation of the Church, 
 and this circumstance gave rise at an early time to a sort 
 of compulsory school attendance throughout the country. 
 The subjects in parochial schools are everywhere reading, 
 writing, arithmetic, biblical knowledge, the shorter 
 catechism, and Latin ; but in many places various other 
 subjects also have been admitted, such as Greek, mathe- 
 matics, physics, technology, and even phrenology. The 
 elementary schools advance into the domain of the higher, 
 and the latter are at the same time general schools.* 
 The eagerness to learn has always been very great in 
 
 * In an official report of last year we read : " Parochial schools are 
 attended by children who ought to he in infant schools, and what 
 are called infant schools are attended by big boys and girls, who ought 
 to be in more advanced schools. The Burgh and middle-class schools, 
 in like manner, which might be expected to be secondary, combine in 
 themselves infant, elementary, and secondary schools. Sometimes in 
 the same class-room, and taught by the same master, there are boys 
 and girls of fifteen and sixteen years of age, reading, it may be, Homer 
 and Virgil and Racine, and alongside of them infants under six years 
 of age, learning their letters and their multiplication table, and young 
 men of eighteen and twenty, who, according to age, ought to be in the 
 universities. There is no uniformity or organisation throughout the 
 country, but schools have been lelt just as they have grown up, or old 
 schools have been amalgamated with new, so that the general result is 
 a sort of ill-ordered patchwork, and the great marvel is, how much 
 good comes out of this disorder."
 
 60 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 Scotland ; in the seventeenth century the work at school 
 lasted in some places up to ten hours daily. 
 
 A school-inspector told me that on one of his last 
 journeys, he asked, in a village school in the Highlands, 
 whether any of the children learned the ancient lan- 
 guages, whereupon several boys and girls rose from their 
 seats ; that a girl who stepped forward barefoot, gave a 
 good translation of a chapter from Julius Caesar, and 
 solved a geometrical problem accurately ; the teacher 
 then sent for his best scholar, who, with his permission, 
 happened to be engaged in the fields ; the boy came in 
 with the traces of his work on his hands and feet ; the 
 teacher handed him a copy of Virgil and of Xenophon's 
 Anabasis, and the inspector told me that the boy trans- 
 lated satisfactorily the passages selected by him. He 
 added that he had met with similar cases in other village 
 schools. 
 
 Things of this kind appear interesting to us when we 
 hear or read of them, and we rejoice at the zeal of these 
 children, but we cannot approve of it for various reasons, 
 especially for the sake of the school itself. In the 
 country such things are exceedingly popular ; even the 
 humble and poor, it is said, are not to be excluded from 
 the higher culture if they can anywhere obtain it. The 
 whole Scottish school system has something of this 
 romantic irregularity ; although the people generally are 
 much inclined to turn their attention to what is practical 
 and useful, still serious, nay ideal aspirations and great 
 perseverance pass by the immediate wants almost without 
 concern.* 
 
 * I have just read in the Ilumilton Advertiser, a Scottish newspaper, 
 the following remarks in an account of a cattle-show in Aberdeen :
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 61 
 
 Middle-class schools are cliiefly intended to provide, 
 without great expense, the necessary instruction for such 
 occupations as do not require the studies of a university. 
 In most of them Latin also is taught ; and the honour of 
 having prepared pupils so far as to enable them to enter 
 a university is in the eyes of many too great a recom- 
 mendation of a school to he indifferent about it, though 
 in our opinion it would be better if the school confined 
 itself to the special task marked out for it. The middle- 
 class schools recently established in London likewise go 
 beyond their first intentions, and offer among other things 
 Greek and even Hebrew, mostly without increasing the 
 school fee, and make a show of individual pupils who have 
 actually succeeded in getting into a university. 
 
 The Scotch Borough schools are town-schools, and 
 
 "There seems to be very little connection between the reading of 
 Caesar's Gallic Wars and the rearing of prize bulls, between the 
 knowledge of how the Roman State was founded and how black cattle 
 are fed ; but the intellectual sharpness produced in a boy by the study 
 of Eoman literature, is an excellent preparation for enabling him, as a 
 man, not only to rear cattle, but to cultivate the soil, navigate the sea, 
 manufacture and sell goods, lead armies, fight battles, and guide the 
 destinies of nations. Does anybody believe that if the young Aber- 
 donians had been taught botany, geology, astronomy, or any, or two of 
 the so-called practical subjects, they would have been more skilled 
 cattle-breeders, more intelligent agriculturists? Would the mental 
 effort necessary to appreciate the formation of cellular tissue in plants, 
 or that recfuired for understanding the construction of a language for 
 the expression of men's thoughts, be the more invigorating? There is 
 surely as much interest connected with the utterance of human thought 
 and the doings of men, as with the growth of plants and the knowledge 
 of their properties. W"e do not mean to undervalue the study of what 
 are called practical subjects, but we are sure that, as instruments of 
 general intellectual training, they are not superior to the studies that 
 have helped to produce the hard-headed, close-fisted, argumentative, 
 and intensely practical Aberdonians."
 
 62 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 according to the extent of their course of instruction are 
 either middle-class schools with the before-mentioned 
 half elementary character, or public or grammar schools 
 in the English sense. This next higher sphere of 
 secondary instruction, as it is called in England and 
 France, is, for the reasons mentioned, least developed in 
 Scotland. John Knox indeed recognised the necessity of 
 establishing colleges between the parochial schools and 
 the universities ; but this part of his plan was not carried 
 out ; and it is only the larger cities like Edinburgh and 
 Glasgow that possess schools which can be compared to 
 the German gymnasia. The inhabitants of other places 
 frequently send their sons to England, if they desire to 
 give them a higher education. In Scotland great efforts 
 are made at present to render secondary schools as a 
 speciality more independent ; I have mentioned in my 
 last letter the association which has been formed for this 
 purpose. 
 
 The definition of a Public school is not fixed ; the name 
 is traditionally given — somewhat in the sense in which 
 in Germany Schulpforte is called Landesschule — to a 
 small number of the oldest schools, especially Winchester, 
 Eton, Westminster (which are connected by special 
 foundations with colleges at Oxford and Cambridge), 
 Harrow, Rugby and Charterhouse, which properly speak- 
 ing, belong to the genus grammar school, because in- 
 struction in the two ancient languages constitutes the 
 principal part of their teaching, and they are all intended 
 to prepare pupils for the Universities. But the name 
 Grammar schools is generally applied in a wider sense 
 only to the smaller public schools ; many grammar 
 schools moreover have no arrangements for boarders.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 63 
 
 College is another general name for these institutions ; 
 in Scotland they are also called High Schools and 
 Academies ; and the name public school has there a dif- 
 ferent meaning, for since the Educational Act for Scot- 
 land was passed in 1872, the name is given to all the 
 institutions, parochical as well as endowed and grammar 
 schools, which are under the management of School 
 Boards. I shall afterwards have occasion to speak 
 of the division of endowed schools made by the govern- 
 ment into institutions of the first, second, and third 
 grade. 
 
 University Colleges exist, e.g., at Liverpool, Bristol, and 
 Aberystwith in Wales. The older institutions of this 
 class, especially Owens College at Manchester, have a 
 tendency to become independent universities, but have as 
 yet not been able to obtain the right to confer academical 
 degrees. The teachers of Owens College are also em- 
 ployed in an Artisans' College in the same city. The 
 subjects of instruction in university colleges are chiefly 
 the exact sciences in their practical application, but also 
 medicine, law, the ancient and modern languages, litera- 
 ture and history. What appears to us specially sur- 
 prising is the fact that students are admitted at so early an 
 age and without sufficient preparation ; at Owens College 
 boys may enter at the age of fourteen. It is equally 
 opposed to our German notion of a clear organisation, 
 that such different schools as academical institutions and 
 lower preparatory schools should be united together, and 
 that too in the same building. I saw this for the first 
 time in New College, London, an institution for theological 
 studies of Dissenters. It comprises a preparatory course 
 of two years (faculty of arts, to which boys may be ad-
 
 G4 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 mittetl at the age of sixteen, if tliey are acquainted with 
 the first elements, the accidence of Latin and Greek) and 
 a theological course of three years. 
 
 In 1826, University College was founded in London, in 
 opposition to Oxford and Cambridge (in 1828 160,OOOZ. 
 were already subscribed for it), and in 1832 University 
 College School was added to it ; both are without any 
 ecclesiastical connection. This called forth a practical 
 protest on the part of the Church in the establishment 
 of King's College in 1828, and King's College School in 
 1830. The well-known historian George Grote was for 
 a long time President of University College, while his 
 father by contributing money took part in the establish- 
 ment of King's College. Thus the old era is separated 
 from the new one. 
 
 Both colleges, besides their preparatory schools, have 
 also opened evening classes during the winter months, 
 in which all the subjects of university as well as of 
 school instruction are taught to young and old. The 
 age of admission and the degree of preparation re- 
 quired sufi&ciently show that both colleges are still pre- 
 eminently mere schools. Every one who has attained 
 the age of 16 may become a student there, though he 
 may not possess the knowledge — to judge from the 
 printed questions of the entrance examination on the 
 ancient languages, even in the case of those wishing 
 to enter the theological department — of a pupil of a 
 secunda* in a German gymnasium. In King's College 
 reports are sent to the parents of the students at the 
 
 * A German Gyrunasium has six classes, the lowest being called 
 sexta, so that the herAuula would answer to the fifth form in our jiublic 
 schools. — Ejd.
 
 ox ENGLISH EDUCATIOX. 65 
 
 end of each of the three terms, into which the year is 
 divided. The schools of the two colleges have upper, 
 middle, and lower classes, and separate departments for 
 classical and practical subjects of instruction (classical 
 and modern sides). 
 
 The German universities combine scientific research 
 with scientific teaching and training to scientific work, 
 while scientific research is the exclusive business of 
 academies ; but the universities of England have pre- 
 eminently confined themselves to teaching and examin- 
 ing, and the London University is simply an examining 
 institution. In Germany most of those who have passed 
 through a Gymnasium, or a Kealschule of the first order, 
 enter upon scientific or professional studies, as the 
 natural sequel to school-learning; but in England, the 
 universities, if we except the just mentioned London 
 University, are still essentially schools : " the first year 
 of the student's university life is a mere continuation 
 of his school-work." Some of the excellent works of 
 W. Whewell on ' English University Education ' are 
 written in this spirit. At Oxford and Cambridge, you 
 cannot ask " to what faculty does a young man belong?" 
 or " what does he study ?" but " where does he study?" 
 that is, " to what college does he belong ? " The number 
 of such college-foundations for collegiate life at Oxford 
 amounts to twenty, independently of five smaller ones 
 called halls ; in Cambridge there are fourteen colleges and 
 three halls. The real professional studies are generally 
 pursued by those who choose them at all, after their 
 university career. Many of the faculties, it is true, do 
 exist, and are represented by professors; but they do 
 not constitute the component parts . of the university ;
 
 66 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 this is clone by the colleges. The degrees in ■ theology, 
 Liw, and medicine are not conferred by a faculty, but by 
 the university as such. This and the difierent relation 
 of the state to the acquisition of knowledge explain the 
 difference between the English and German universities. 
 The educational function of the English universities is 
 only a rise upon that of the public schools ; to strengthen 
 and deepen the general culture, especially by a pro- 
 longed occupation with the ancient classics, and to 
 bring the character of the young man to maturity : " to 
 turn him out more of a man than he was before." The 
 order of study and the discipline are regulated according 
 to these objects, and English students are allowed less 
 freedom than we are accustomed to in Germany. 
 
 No certificate of maturity is demanded for matricula- 
 tion at Oxford or Cambridge, nor is there in general any 
 examination for admission, the latter is the case only in 
 some colleges — such as Balliol College at Oxford. It 
 is the general opinion that most of the colleges do ijot 
 consider it to be to their interest to be severe in the 
 admission of students, and that thereby the universities 
 have depressed the standard of the public schools. It 
 is a rare thing for a student to have passed through the 
 highest class of such a school. Men of practical ex- 
 perience have assured me that the majority of students 
 are insufficiently prepared, and that they proceed to 
 the universities not to study, but to be coached for the 
 examinations. The new-comer has only to pay his dues, 
 and to recognise his obligation to submit to the general 
 rules ; there must however be no doubt about his moral 
 qualification. The chief object in most cases is the 
 degree of Bachelor of Arts.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 67 
 
 The undergraduate receives his directions for study 
 from his tutor, a fellow of the college, but chiefly from 
 his private tutor, for the former is more especially 
 obliged loco parentis to exercise a general care and 
 superintendence over him. Fellows are those who enjoy 
 the funds of a college as a pension ; they are elected by 
 co-optation from among those who have passed their 
 university examinations. 
 
 Instruction is generally given during two hours daily , 
 from 10 to 12, and more than twenty students rarely 
 meet in class ; it is like the prima of a German Gym- 
 nasium. It was formerly the rule, in addition to this, 
 to be prepared by a private tutor, and the business of a 
 private tutor was for a long time a very lucrative in- 
 dustry at Oxford and Cambridge, but it is said now to be 
 on the decrease. The lectures of the professors are on the 
 whole little attended, especially because they do not, like 
 the tutors, take part in the examinations. In recent times 
 a step towards a closer union of the colleges has been 
 taken, inasmuch as sometimes several colleges do their 
 exercises in common under the same tutor or lecturer, 
 who is regarded as particularly clever and able in his 
 department, whereas formerly one tutor was thought suf- 
 ficient for the different requirements of the students. Last 
 year Oxford had thirty-seven professors and one hundred 
 and sixty-eight college tutors and lecturers, of whom one 
 hundred and fifty were fellows. The natural sciences and 
 modern languages have recently been added to the old 
 subjects of instruction. The year is divided at Oxford 
 into four terms, at Cambridge into three ; but on the whole 
 it is customary to devote less than one-half of the year to 
 study ; and as great importance is attached to physical 
 
 F 2
 
 68 GEEMAN LETTEES 
 
 exercises, study must give way to these and other out-door 
 amusements, especially when the weather is fine. 
 
 Besides the students living in the colleges there are 
 also externes, who in Cambridge form the majority ; they 
 belong to a definite college, but live in the town, and 
 are bound in the arrangement of their time to follow 
 the rules prescribed for the others ; they attend divine 
 service at their college, and are generally obliged to dine 
 there. At Oxford those who have lived three years at a 
 college must take apartments in the town, in order to 
 make room for others. To these has been added in 
 modern times a third class, unattached students, who are 
 not subject to the regulations of a college, but to the 
 general rules of the university, and must have a tutor. 
 The consequences of the unrestrained life led by these 
 students not living in colleges, induced the authorities 
 at Oxford in 1854 to abolish this arrangement : Ne quis 
 Scliolaris in domibus privatis victitet aut hos]jitetur ; but 
 this could not be carried out, and in 1868 the old custom 
 was completely revived. 
 
 Special professional studies are for the most part* 
 carried on after the university course in seminaries and 
 other institutions of a practical character. But the 
 admission to them is by no means dependent upon the 
 candidate proving that he has studied at a university. 
 There are in England a goodly number of medical men 
 and judges, also dissenting ministers, who have never 
 studied at a university. Most of the clergy of the 
 
 * About three-fourths of the students of Oxford last year wislied to 
 prepare themselves for the more diflicult examination for honours, 
 one-third in the ancient languages ; others in a descending proportion 
 in modem history, theology, law, matliematics, and natural science (in 
 the last only one-fifteenth).
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. G9 
 
 English Chiirch, it is true, receive their education at 
 Oxford or Cambridge, but it is not necessary that the 
 candidate should have taken his degree; a clergyman above 
 all things must be a gentleman, and his having resided 
 for a time and for this purjDose at a university, seems to 
 be considered more important than the examinations ; to 
 judge of his qualifications is afterwards the business of 
 the bishop. In the theological department of King's 
 College, London, the diplomas there acquired after an 
 attendance of two years are accepted by the bishops as 
 sufficient proof of qualification. In the same college, 
 persons who during the day are engaged in other occupa- 
 tions, may prepare themselves in the evening classes, 
 even for theological appointments.* At New College, 
 which I have mentioned before, the students are often 
 young men who have previously carried on some trade. 
 In justification of this, it is sometimes said that those 
 who have before gained a larger experience in life are 
 better fitted for the clerical office than others, who pass 
 at once from school to the study of theology. There is a 
 seminary at St. Bees, in Cumberland, for poor theological 
 students belonging to the English Church. 
 
 The future lawyer in order to gain a practical know- 
 ledge visits the Inns of Court, such as the Inner and 
 Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn, or enters the 
 office of some lawyer as an apprentice. This mode of 
 
 * " With a view to meet the requirements of those who desire to 
 enter Holy Orders, but are unable, for so long a period as two years, to 
 relinquish professions in which they are already engaged, it has been 
 determined (with the approval of the Archbishops of Canterbury and 
 York, and the Bishops of London, Winchester, and Rochester) to allow 
 a portion of the study and training of the theological department to be 
 carried out in the evening."
 
 70 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 proceeding and of acquiring a knowledge of law by the 
 study of concrete cases is, in England, regarded as the 
 only possible method, because the English laws are not 
 systematically arranged, and cannot be treated as a 
 science. During the last ten years an examination has 
 had to be passed before admission into the courts, but 
 Greek and mathematics are not required, and in some 
 cases the whole examination may be dispensed with. 
 
 According to the arrangements made quite recently for 
 the practice of medicine, it is scarcely possible to be 
 admitted to the study of it without a sufficient school 
 training, and at least some knowledge of Latin. Medical 
 students receive the principal part of their training in 
 hospitals. It is well known that the medical art in 
 England has distinguished representatives. 
 
 The Scottish universities, compared with the old 
 English ones, are poor, and like some of the Irish ones 
 receive aid from the state. They are not what their 
 name indicates, but have even more than Oxford and 
 Cambridge the character of schools with lower and higher 
 classes. At the beginning of the lesson the professor 
 calls over the roll, puts questions, tasks are given out, 
 &c. Each subject of general culture is always represented 
 by only one professor : in Edinburgh, for example, John 
 Stuart Blackie is the only professor of Greek. A minimum 
 amount of knowledge is not required on admission; 
 sometimes boys of thirteen years are enrolled as students. 
 Those who have attended a high school are on an average 
 sixteen years old, and enter the higher class ; besides these 
 there may be young men of twenty-five who have come 
 from country districts. In 18G6, 29 per cent, of the students 
 in the Humanity classes of the Edinburgh University had
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 71 
 
 come direct from elementary schools, and the percentage 
 in Aberdeen was even greater. Professor Blackie in one 
 of his writings says : " The Faculty of Arts in our uni- 
 versities has been dragged down to the level of school 
 teaching, and the professors have been forced systemati- 
 cally to denude themselves of all their highest professorial 
 and academical functions." Many of the students are 
 entirely without means, and it still happens that during 
 the more than six months' holidays they have elsewhere 
 to earn the means of living in the university town during 
 the winter. A life such as the students lead at Oxford 
 and Cambridge is not known in Scotland, any more than 
 the vita communis and the discipline of the colleges. 
 The persevering industry of Scotch students is highly 
 spoken of; Lord Stanley in his Eectorial Address at 
 Glasgow in 1869 thought it even necessary to caution 
 them against over-exertion. In all the Scotch universities 
 the Eector is elected by the students. 
 
 Ireland has an Anglican and a Eoman Catholic university 
 at Dublin ; both have an entrance examination, the re- 
 quirements of which, however, are much inferior to those 
 of the German Ahiturienten* examinations. University 
 (Queen's) Colleges were established in 1845 in Belfast, 
 Cork, and Galway. The last place has also a Presbyterian 
 College, and an old Eoman Catholic College exists at 
 Maynooth. 
 
 The new Eoman Catholic university at Kensington 
 (London) admits pupils from the age of seventeen, and 
 has a strictly regulated curriculum of four years. 
 
 * An abiturieut is a young man who, after having gone through the 
 six classes of a Gymnasium, is going through an examination to ascer- 
 tain his fitness to enter a university. This examination may be termed 
 a leaving examination. — Ed.
 
 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 The Universities continued — Eton — International Schools. 
 
 mifh/. 
 I WILL now joroceecl to discuss the differences in kind of 
 the higher schools mentioned in my last letter. 
 
 In regard to their origin most of them are foundation 
 schools, wholly or partially endowed.* The great insti- 
 tutions at Eton, "Winchester, St. Paul's in London, and 
 many others, are described as mainly Foundation schools. 
 Hospital schools are a special kind of institutions, which 
 have arisen out of charitable foundations or charities. 
 Hospital in the first instance signifies a poor's house, and 
 next very frequently a school connected with such a 
 house. Christ's Hospital in London (the Bluecoat School) 
 has been the model for others, as for Heriot's Hospital 
 at Edinburgh, which was founded in 1628 ; the splendid 
 Fettes College recently erected (1864) at Edinburgh is 
 likewise a Hospital school. One-half of all the school 
 foundations have probably originated in this manner, and 
 most of them were intended for the humbler classes. The 
 mischievous consequences of many children living closely 
 packed together in a monastic fashion has now led the 
 
 * The spirit of most founders is expressed in the inscription above 
 the entrance of the school at Kingsbridge : — 
 
 " Lord wliat I liave 'twas Thou that gav'st it me, 
 And of Thine own this I return to Thee." 
 St. Paul's School in London, according to the intention of its founder, 
 Dean Colet, was to be : "A free school to all natives or foreigners, of 
 what country whatsoever, none being excluded by their nativity, which 
 exclude not themselves by their un worthiness, to the number of 153, as 
 n, any fishes as were caught in the net by the Apostles (John xxi. 11)."
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 73 
 
 authorities at Edinburgh to the determination to phice the 
 children in families, and to have them educated with others 
 in the hospital, which is to be converted into a day school. 
 As the Fettes foundation left to the trustees their free 
 choice, they have thought it best, considering the actual 
 wants, to provide a higher school with a boarding esta- 
 blishment for the middle classes ; it educates fifty boys free 
 of expense. Glasgow, too, has recently been enabled by 
 the Hutcheson hospital foundation, to establish a grammar 
 school with an elementary and a secondary department, 
 the latter being divided into a classical and a modern side. 
 
 In England, as in Germany, we can distinguish %»Mmsi(X 
 •and Beahchulen ; but a combination of the two is now more 
 frequent in England than the specific separation, inasmuch 
 as the curriculum of the public and grammar schools has 
 been considerably enlarged by the introduction of the 
 natural sciences, modern languages, and partially also by 
 more attention being paid to history, geography, and 
 mathematics. It often happens that according to the 
 system of bifurcation, we meet in the same institution 
 with the three departments which I have just mentioned 
 in the case of the Glasgow grammar school ; the common 
 substructure is also called the preparatory, lower or 
 junior school (below thirteen years), the superstructure is 
 termed the classical or general side, and the modern the 
 mathematical side. 
 
 Among the old public schools Harrow was the first to 
 enlarge its curriculum by the addition of a distinct modern 
 side ; and there, as at Dulwich, Marlborough, Birmingham, 
 and Cheltenham, it is managed by the same head-master 
 as the classical side. The same is the case in Wellington 
 College, an excellent institution, situated in a beautiful
 
 74 GEKMAN LETTERS 
 
 part of Berkshire. It was founded in 1853, in honour of 
 the Duke whose name it bears, for the sons of deceased 
 officers ; and the funds were secured by subscriptions, to 
 which was added the residue of the patriotic fund, which 
 had been raised at the time of the Crimean war. A large 
 number . of other pupils was soon added to the eighty 
 foundationers w^ho are educated entirely free of expense. 
 The institution has gradually changed its originally half- 
 military character, and is now in most respects what we 
 should call a BeaUchule. 
 
 In regard to assigning equal rights to the classical and 
 modern schools, the directors of the latter make very 
 short work. A grammar school at Giggleswick, in York- 
 shire, founded in the sixteenth century, has now become a 
 Eealschule, according to the scheme drawn up for it by 
 the Endowed School Commission, and is enjoying an 
 excellent reputation. I saw it during the process of its 
 transformation, which consisted, among other things, in 
 the addition of a large building for boarders. The school 
 calls itself " a first grade modern school, that is, a school 
 answering in every respect to a first grade classical 
 school, except that the leading subjects of instruction are 
 Latin, modern languages and literature, natural science 
 and mathematics. Greek, except in special cases, and 
 verse compositions are omitted." 
 
 Sometimes the classical and the realistic or modern de- 
 partments of the same school are under difi'erent manage- 
 ment, as, for example, in the Leathersellers' foundation 
 and the Haberdashers' school in the suburbs of London. 
 There are also institutions which, though belonging to 
 each other, are yet locally separated and difi'er from each 
 other either in kind or degree. Thus a Hospital Pre-
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 75 
 
 paratory School in Hertford belongs to the Bluecoat School 
 in London ; in like manner the upper school at Dulwich 
 has at some distance a lower school, with Latin, for poorer 
 boys, which is managed by the same head-master. 
 
 A corporation which I have mentioned before (p. 50) 
 has established for the south of England schools which 
 belong to each other, first, at Lancing (Sussex), for the 
 higher classes, chiefly classical ; secondly, at Hurst pier- 
 point, for the middle classes, chiefly realistic ; thirdly, at 
 Ardinghj, a higher elementary school (hohere Burger schule) 
 for the poorer classes ; in the last two, however, oppor- 
 tunities are offered for learning Latin and Greek. The 
 same corporation has planned a similar group for the 
 Midland district ; but has, as yet, only commenced the 
 middle of the three institutions, a realistic school at 
 Dengstone. There is a preparatory school for Lancing at 
 St. Leonard's, near Hastings. Each group, moreover, has 
 a girls' school connected with it. 
 
 In Germany very few of the more important boarding- 
 schools are situated in large towns; most of them, like 
 Ilfeld, near Hanover, are in smaller places. Such is the 
 case also at Eton, Harrow, Kugby, and now also Charter 
 House; or they are situated, like our Schulpforte and 
 Eossleben, in country solitude, for instance, Wellington, 
 Mill Hill, Giggleswick, Glenalmond (Perthshire). Many 
 of these boarding-schools also receive pupils who only 
 take part in the instruction, whence they have non- 
 resident as, well as resident pupils. But it is considered 
 more genteel when the former are excluded, for which 
 reason many heads of private boarding-schools say in 
 their prospectus " no day-scholars are admitted." Even 
 in the middle classes not a few parents, in order to appear
 
 76 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 more respectable, send their sons and daughters to such 
 exclusive establishments. In Scotland there are fewer 
 boarding-schools than in England, but many day-schools 
 also receive boarders, as, for example, Morison's Academy 
 at Crieff, and Hutton Hall in Dumfries, which belong to 
 the endowed schools. 
 
 The fact that, in general, the education of boys in 
 boarding-schools is preferred to domestic training and 
 attending a day-school, arises from the belief that the 
 mutual education which boys in boarding-schools receive 
 from one another is of the highest value ; for there, it is 
 said, the character is formed at an early time, and boys are 
 prepared to bear the buffs to which everyone is exposed in 
 after life, to show courage and resolution, and to acquire 
 an honourable esprit de corps* What is called the Eton 
 system regards it as its problem " to make manly boys." 
 
 The number of pupils at Eton has been on the increase 
 during the last years : in 1836 it had four hundred and 
 forty-four puj)ils ; in July of the present year I found nine 
 hundred and fifty-two. The seventy foundation scholar- 
 ships, or King's scholarships, were originally intended for 
 poor boys, but, as at present the benefit is acquired by 
 competitive examination, several sons of wealthy parents 
 are in the enjoyment of them. 
 
 Seven hundred and seventy oppidans reside in boarding- 
 houses, which are now, for the most part, kept by the masters 
 
 * In an official report of 1867 I find the following : " In the great 
 schools which possess famous traditions, and in which the pupils come 
 for the most part from tiic liouses of gentlemen, there is a tone of 
 manners, and a sentiment of honour, which go far to neutralise the 
 disadvantages of a too early withdrawal from the shelter of home. 
 Few boys can breathe such an atmosphere without being strengthened 
 by it."
 
 ox ENGLISH EDUCATION. 77 
 
 (thirty) in tlie vicinity of the school ; those which used 
 to be kept by dames have been reduced to two. Eton has 
 longest held to its ancient traditions ; innovations were 
 met by " it was always so," until a few years ago (1872) 
 new statutes were framed ; since then the new governing 
 body has made many internal as well as external changes. 
 Mathematics and French now belong to the obligatory 
 subjects. Twice every year an examiner, invited by the 
 governing body, comes from Oxford, selects a number of 
 pupils from each class, examines them in whatever he 
 likes, and also looks over their written exercises. The 
 old-fashioned, much-abused school-books have been thrown 
 aside, the number of class-rooms has been increased, and 
 are now also heated in winter. The income of the in- 
 stitution amounts to about 30,000/. annually. All boys 
 on the foundation must belong to the English Church ; 
 but it is no longer necessary either for the Provost or the 
 head-master to be a clergyman. 
 
 Boarding-schools for the higher ranks exist in sufficient 
 number (the most frequented among the older ones, 
 next to Eton, are Harrow, Winchester, and Merchant 
 Taylors', in Loudon, which has one hundred foundationers), 
 but for the other ranks there is a scarcity of such boarding- 
 schools as are not too expensive and enjoy the general 
 confidence of the public. 
 
 In consequence of the government measures the ex- 
 clusive ecclesiastical or religious character of many schools 
 has recently been given up, but in opposition to this it 
 has been made more stringent in others, for new 
 institutions have been founded with a definite ecclesias- 
 tical tendency. The inclination towards ritualism, which 
 is increasing in the English Church, shows itself also in
 
 78 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 some schools, for example at Bloxham near Banbury, in 
 Oxfordshire : the school, a higher elementary school with 
 Latin, it is said, " is esjjecially intended to give a sound 
 general education in the distinctive catholic principles of 
 the English Church, and, in a manly, liberal spirit to 
 boys who, as a rule, go direct from school into the busi- 
 ness of life." Lancing, which I mentioned above, and the 
 institutions connected with it are of a similar character. 
 
 Besides the Anglican Cathedral and other parish schools, 
 there exists a number of Dissenting institutions, as of the 
 Wesleyans (for example their Collegiate Institution at 
 Trull near Taunton), Methodists, and Independents. But 
 most of them are of a mixed character, especially the 
 schools of the Society of Friends, which are highly praised 
 on account of the care and ability of their masters, and 
 are not confined to children of their own denomination. 
 The Moravian-schools also, for example at Fulneck in the 
 "West Biding, are likewise attended by other children, as is 
 the case in Germany, from which country they from time 
 to time receive new masters. 
 
 In Scotland the presbyteries at first took part in the 
 ecclesiastical management of the parochial schools, but, as 
 in Germany, the direct ecclesiastical influence has been 
 more and more repressed. By the side of the public schools 
 (in the Scottish sense of the word) there also exist schools 
 of the Church of Scotland, of the Free Church, the Epis- 
 copal and the Eoman Catholic Churches. The last are on 
 the increase in England. Among their larger colleges I 
 may mention by way of example that at Stonyhurst in 
 Lancashire, and Mount St. Mary's College near Chester- 
 field, which, like the school at Oscott near Birmingham, 
 are managed by Jesuits.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 79 
 
 The state in no case exercises the rights of a 'patron over 
 any of the higher schools. In Germany several of these 
 schools would, according to their foundation, be under 
 royal patronage ; such would be the case, for instance, with 
 Eton, Westminster, King Edward's School at Birmingham, 
 Shrewsbury, the Grammar schools at Sherborne, at Bury 
 St. Edmund's, and others ; but in England government has 
 no direct influence over them. The funds of the endowed 
 schools, from whomsoever they are derived, have not been 
 bequeathed to an individual person, but to a place, to a 
 district, or to the country in general, that is, to the nation 
 and not to the state as such, of which they are, on that 
 account, independent ; they are, like Oxford and Cambridge 
 with their rich college foundations, national property. 
 While therefore with us in Germany the Joachimsthal- 
 Gymnasium and Schulpforta, princely foundations of early 
 times, have in their internal and external relations en- 
 tirely fallen under the administration of the state, Eton, 
 founded by Henry VI. as a preparatory school for King's 
 College, Cambridge, has its own special administration, is 
 independent, and could resist the interference of a com- 
 mission of inquiry appointed by Parliament, and at all 
 events reject proposed alterations. I have already men- 
 tioned that it has at last given up its resistance. 
 
 The governing body possess the patronage and the 
 corporate rights of the institution of which they have the 
 administration. The composition as well as the name of 
 such governing bodies are very different. In the case of 
 several of the old public schools, the three universities, 
 and the Koyal Society of London, are represented in the 
 governing bodies ; in some cases the body of the masters, 
 including the head- master, are entitled to elect one of
 
 80 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 their number. In Eton, tlie governing body consists of 
 the Provost and ten Fellows ; at Westminster, of the 
 Chapter of the cathedral ; at Winchester, of the Warden 
 and the Fellows ; at Eugby, of the trustees ; at Harrow, of 
 the Governors ; at Dulwich it consists of nineteen persons, 
 eleven of whom are elected by the Court of Chancery in 
 London, and eight by the four London parishes which are 
 privileged by the deed of the foundation. 
 
 Moreover churches, universities, corporations and as- 
 sociations of different kinds, have the patronage of schools. 
 In Leeds the patronage belongs to trustees headed by the 
 vicar of the principal church; in Bristol it belongs to 
 the corporation. It is the same in some towns of Scot- 
 land ; but at present the high schools of Edinburgh and 
 Glasgow are no longer under the patronage of the city- 
 corporations, but are placed under the School-boards in- 
 stituted by the government. In such cases the towns 
 only retain certain honorary rights of representation. 
 
 King's College in London, under a permanent Principal 
 elected by the Council, has something of a monarchical 
 constitution. In University College the Council itself 
 determines everything, and a new President is elected 
 every year. 
 
 The Froprietary selwoh are the property of individuals 
 or of associations, which have founded or maintain them 
 on account of the interest they take in education. 
 Some of the best schools of the country are of this 
 class. Many also are the property of shareholders, whose 
 object it is to make money by them. In this the head- 
 masters are generally in an unpleasant position, as the 
 proprietors, if they live in the same place, generally wish 
 to interfere in everything ; and cither from selfishness or
 
 * ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 81 
 
 from vanity often make the most perverse arrangements ; 
 but whether they live near or at a distance, at all events 
 they expect good dividends upon their shares. Many public 
 advertisements of such establishments and of private 
 schools may be seen, in which they offer to do a variety of 
 things for everybody, e.g., " Thorough preparation for the 
 public schools and universities, the Naval and Military 
 Colleges, Local and Civil Service examinations, and for 
 professional and commercial and all business life;" in 
 like manner they promise to " take special care of 
 delicate and backward boys, and of Indian and colonial 
 children." 
 
 Proprietary schools are commonly distinguished from 
 Private schools, which are the property of an individual 
 who at the same time conducts them. As to his ability 
 no one has a right to question it. Being institutions 
 established at the risk of an individual and for his 
 own benefit they are also called Adventure scliools. The 
 number of such schools and the difference in their arrange- 
 ments are very great in England, and many are said to be 
 incredibly bad. To teach and to set up schools are parts 
 of free trade there, and any one who has been found want- 
 ing in other occupations, or has become a bankrupt in all 
 manner of undertakings, may still set up an " academy 
 for young gentlemen," " a commercial " or " an agricul- 
 tural academy." He engages the cheapest teachers, who 
 if they know nothing of what they are to teach may stick 
 to books. It rests with the parents as to whether they 
 wish to entrust their sons to him ; very many do it, and I 
 have often wondered at it. As individual men are essen- 
 tially different from one another in the clearness of their 
 ideas about the relation between the means and the end
 
 82 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 and in tlieir ability to distinguish between the two, so 
 one nation possesses these qualities more than another, 
 but no nation seems to have them to the same extent as 
 the English, both in their public and in their private 
 affairs, whence they generally appear as calculating and 
 cool reasoners. But in selecting a place for the instruc- 
 tion or education of their children this clearness of judg- 
 ment is most frequently wanting. Numberless parents 
 still allow themselves to be deceived by seductive lauda- 
 tions in the public papers, and by splendid promises 
 to meet all the wishes of the public, and in their 
 blind confidence entrust their children to incompetent 
 teachers. 
 
 I am well aware, on the other hand, that there are 
 some very excellent private schools, and that some of 
 them have most able teachers; and I, for my part, have 
 always been of opinion that it is desirable to allow a free 
 pedagogic field of experiment alongside of the public 
 institutions, which are bound by fixed rules, even for 
 the development of the special talents of the teachers 
 themselves. 
 
 We may further observe a difference among schools ac- 
 cording to the social -position of the parents — a difference 
 not known in Germany to the same extent. It does 
 indeed happen among us also, that some institutions for a 
 time acquire the reputation of gentility through the sons 
 of wealthy parents, who give a certain tone to them ; but 
 special distinctions of rank are not fostered in German 
 schools ; even the Bitter -Ahademien (schools for the 
 nobility) have given up their exclusiveness ; the equal 
 desire to be educated, and, after the time of school attend- 
 ance, the mere fact that youths have passed the Ahiturien-
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 83 
 
 ten-Examen (leaving examination qualifying for the 
 University), make them all equal in rank. The City of 
 London School, and others, state their object to be to 
 " furnish a liberal and useful education for the sons of 
 respectable persons who are engaged in professional, 
 commercial, and trading pursuits." Other institutions 
 are expressly called Middle-class scJiools. It does not 
 easily occur in Germany thus to name the class of the 
 population for which a higher school is established ; the 
 character and the aims of the school are indicated, and it 
 is left to the public to avail itself of it or not. It is only 
 in girls' schools that a somewhat stricter distinction of 
 ranks is observed. 
 
 In England, where the nobility does not form a distinct 
 class in the continental sense, an aristocratic exclusive- 
 ness makes itself nevertheless felt in the education of the 
 young. Some heads of schools do not admit boys at all, 
 whose fathers keep a shop ; in other schools the lives of 
 such boys are made miserable by the other pupils. The 
 following case was related to me in London. A mother 
 brings her son to the head-master of a school, where the 
 fees were high. One of her questions is : have you sons 
 of tradespeople ? The head-master answers yes, but they 
 are well-behaved boys, and belong to respectable and 
 wealthy houses. This was of no use, the mother went 
 away and took her son with her. It is generally believed 
 that parents not belonging to the higher ranks, send 
 their sons to such schools, with the intention of raising 
 them, by the acquaintances they there form, into the 
 higher social circles. This ambitious motive may actually 
 exist in many cases, and be one of the causes why some 
 public schools are so numerously attended; but it is 
 
 g2
 
 84 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 well known that very many families, by the very wealth 
 acquired in commerce and other industrial undertakings, 
 have been raised into the region of the aristocracy. 
 
 The expenses for a pupil at Eton, if clothing, games, 
 military drill and journeys are included, generally amount 
 to upwards of 200/. per annum ; even those who are on 
 the foundation require annually about 25Z. At Kugby 
 the expenses amount to about 150Z. But there are also 
 boarding-schools, where the annual cost is 50Z. and even 
 less. The fees in the Gymnasia and Eealschulen through- 
 out Prussia are, with few exceptions, the same ; but in 
 England we meet with the greatest differences in this 
 respect.* 
 
 International schools have been mentioned in my last 
 letter. We cannot wonder that the idea of a greater 
 community of culture should have arisen at a time when 
 the nations have been brought into such close contact by 
 the new means of communication. Before the last war 
 with France, negotiations were carried on for a time 
 about a question which came from that country, as to 
 whether French candidates might be admitted into 
 German seminaries (normal schools), provided German 
 candidates were received in return in the seminary 
 for middle-class teachers at Cluny. Various reasons pre- 
 vented this scheme being carried into effect. 
 
 At the time of the great Exhibition in Paris, 1862, 
 Eugene Ecndu raised the question about instituting in- 
 ternational schools. The idea was taken up in England 
 by Cobden, and soon found supporters. The object was at 
 first really something grander than the mere learning 
 of foreign languages by a residence in a foreign country ; 
 
 * Some examples of school fees, &c., may be seen in Appendix I.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION". 85 
 
 the personal and friendly intercourse of young people was 
 intended to set aside national prejudices, and to prepare 
 an area for general peace throughout Europe. The 
 plan then was to form a large company of shareholders, 
 and to establish at four places — those originally proposed 
 being Oxford, Munich, Paris, and Eome, or Florence — 
 schools which should be perfectly alike in their arrange- 
 ments. The institutions were to admit pupils between 
 the ages of eleven and eighteen, and were to dovetail into 
 one another in such a manner that after every second 
 year each boy was to pass on to another country. The 
 language of the country was to be the language in which 
 the instruction should be given. It was hoped that by this 
 means, and by the intercourse of the pupils in the school, 
 the European languages would be acquired with fluency 
 without any special instruction in grammar. The opposi- 
 tion which this proposal of course also met with, pointed 
 chiefly to the fact that by such a method only an out- 
 ward and superficial culture could be acquired, and hinder 
 the strengthening of the special national character. For 
 a long time this and other considerations were not 
 listened to ; but it was nevertheless not attempted to 
 carry out the proposed method, principally because the 
 same amount of readiness was not met with in all of 
 the four countries to contribute the funds necessary 
 for the undertaking. Moreover there was no lack of 
 educational establishments for young Englishmen either 
 in France or in Germany {e.g. on the Ehine, at Dresden, 
 and elsewhere). In England some institutions under 
 the above name still continue to exist, as at Spring 
 Grove near London. During a visit I paid to that in- 
 stitution, four years ago, when Dr. Leonhard Schmitz
 
 86 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 was still its principal, I found a motley assemblage of 
 pupils : some were the sons of Germans resident in 
 England, others had come from Spain, Portugal, North 
 and South America, and India; but the majority were 
 English boys. There were only very few French pupils. 
 At every lesson which I attended, I witnessed the extra- 
 ordinary difficulties with which the instruction in the 
 institution had to contend. 
 
 This reminds me of a conversation on a kindred subject, 
 a universal language, which I once had with a Frenchman 
 under peculiar circumstances. It was Antommarchi, the 
 private physician of Napoleon at St. Helena. In 1831 
 we were obliged for a whole fortnight to share the same 
 room in the Herrenkrug near Magdeburg, where we were 
 in quarantine during the prevalence of cholera. He was 
 then on his return to France after the fall of Warsaw, 
 where he had served the cause of the Poles. He was an 
 agreeable narrator of the events he had witnessed, and it 
 was exceedingly pleasant to discuss matters with him, for 
 he understood the art not only of speaking, but also of 
 listening. But I could not convert him to my opinion, 
 that the English and not the French must become the 
 universal language. The cosmopolitan idea of one lan- 
 guage for the whole world is started again and again 
 on different occasions ; Leibnitz was not the first who 
 thought of a " Pasilalia," and the subject has been 
 repeatedly discussed in consequence of the marvellously 
 accelerated intercourse among nations by means of rail- 
 roads and electric telegraphs ; in fact the restoration of 
 the German empire has quite recently been the occasion 
 of a serious proposal to assemble a congress of scholars, 
 for the purpose of determining upon a general language
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 87 
 
 for the intercourse among nations, or in ease of need 
 to create one, and to make it a rule that this language 
 should be taught in all the schools. 
 
 LETTEK YIII. 
 
 Comparison of the School Administration of Germany and England 
 — The Committee of Privy Council on Education — School 
 Inquiry Commissions — The Governing Bodies — Dulwich — 
 Schools of First, Second, and Third Grade — University Eeform. 
 
 Scarborough. 
 The Odyssey can nowhere be read with greater pleasure 
 than by the sea-shore. How I have again felt this 
 here, where the roar of the ocean comes in at my open 
 window, and my eye can follow the sunny coast-line of 
 the bay ! But my present letters have to speak of other 
 impressions and studies. 
 
 In my last I gave a general survey of the different 
 kinds of schools existing in England. We in Germany 
 also have a great variety of public and private educa- 
 tional establishments, differing in kind and degree, 
 although the variety is not as perplexing as in England. 
 The difference between the two countries, which in this 
 respect is at once evident, is that we in Germany have 
 everywhere a definite school-system, and a fixed order of 
 administration under the management of the government. 
 Both are wanting in England. Owing to the influences 
 of a transition period, many things with us in Germany 
 have become uncertain, and are subjects of controversy ; 
 for example, the ways and means by which the aims and 
 objects fixed for the different kinds of schools can be
 
 88 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 most surely attained. However the aims themselves, for 
 example in Prussia, are fixed and distinct according to 
 the destination of the particular institutions. In like 
 manner there is a firmly established connection, and a 
 well regulated mutual relation among the schools which 
 embraces the whole system. 
 
 We are not so self-satisfied as to suppose that our 
 school-system is therefore perfect. We know its defects, 
 and know in what it is internally wanting in spite of its 
 outward appearance of order ; this order, however, inas- 
 much as it nowhere hinders the further -development, 
 facilitates the work of progressive reform. 
 
 This we owe to the state, to the government; we 
 know what we have in and from it : it is above all this 
 unity of administration ; it is free from arbitrariness, and 
 is conducted in most German countries — in the central 
 localities as well as in the provinces— by men who have 
 obtained their appointments after long practical activity 
 and experience in schools. In all important questions 
 the advice of those acquainted with the subject in the 
 country is listened to and made use of to a large extent. 
 In the schools themselves, however, the head-master is 
 not prevented, by the arrangements established by law, 
 from carrying out the idea of culture in accordance with 
 his own best judgment, and, in like manner, no obstacle 
 is put in the way of the free pedagogic influence of the 
 masters on the boys. 
 
 And hand in hand with the direction and the superin- 
 tendence of the whole, with the attention paid to the 
 objects of the schools themselves, goes the care which is 
 bestowed upon the persons connected with it. Fixed laws 
 and administrative ordinances protect both the master in
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 89 
 
 his rights and claims, and secure the school itself against 
 neglect and official abuse. Every approved teacher of a 
 public institution has a right to expect a pension after 
 leaving his office, and moreover the institution of a 
 widows' fund can set his mind at ease, if not entirely at 
 rest, in regard to the future of the family he may leave 
 behind him. 
 
 When we compare this state of things with that 
 which at present exists in the English school system, I 
 can scarcely say otherwise — and Englishmen themselves 
 have used the same expression — than that things are 
 in a chaotic state,* the very reverse of organisation. 
 There is an absolute want of any clear division of the 
 whole domain, of a definition of the different kinds of 
 schools, and of fixed distinct objects. In many cases we 
 ask in vain for some decisive authority which would pre- 
 vent freedom from degenerating into arbitrariness. It 
 is true that an extraordinary amount is done, that ample 
 means exist and are contributed with great liberality 
 for scholastic purposes ; but they are frittered away. 
 
 The affairs of education and culture, and the science 
 and art collections, are in very different hands, and belong 
 to separate departments, which are quite independent of 
 one another. Hence, in these matters, one everywhere 
 misses unity and combination of the powers of adminis- 
 tration. What grand things might be attained, could 
 the means be kept together and employed according to 
 some fixed plan of unity ! The many noble endeavours 
 
 * " We are now beginning to look forward hopefully to the gradual 
 reduction of our educational chaos into something like a system," 
 are the words of a head-master. Similar remarks are met with in the 
 reports of some of tlie Schools Inquiry Commissioners.
 
 90 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 anil unselfish contributions towards the great object of 
 education are as they stand — isolated, atomistic — not 
 nearly so effective to the whole as they might and ought 
 to be. The obstinacy and strength of Englishmen in their 
 feeling of independence become weaknesses where organi- 
 sation is required. I shall, in a subsequent letter, speak 
 of the precarious personal position of teachers. 
 
 At present people are on all hands busy with reforms. 
 But a unity of plan and a firm guiding hand is wanting. 
 The old system, which has in part been already aban- 
 doned, worked well and successfully in its way ; and no 
 safe method has as yet been found for the new one; it 
 has still to be tested. Thus many experiments are still 
 going on, and in the education both of boys and girls 
 courses are here and there being pursued which sooner or 
 later will be recognised to be erroneous. What is need- 
 ful in such times is a man of the character of Thomas 
 Arnold, in whom were combined clearness of perception as 
 to the requirements and means, with a practical mind for 
 carrying them into execution, and an energetic power of 
 will to direct them. But, even though such a man could 
 be found, how could he, in England, acquire the right of 
 acting authoritatively ? 
 
 I have mentioned before that in the case of elementary 
 schools, and of the institutions for training teachers for 
 them, the government has created an organisation of 
 administration which has already accomplished great 
 things. 
 
 The want of a central administration, in the first 
 instance, for elementary schools, was for a long time 
 felt by many. The Church alone could not, either in 
 England or in Scotland, supply the want ; in like manner
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 91 
 
 the self-government of the towns and counties, as well as 
 the action of the two great school associations (the National 
 and the British), and the efforts of other charitable 
 associations, proved insufficient. As early as the year 
 1832 therefore a Parliamentary Commission was appointed 
 to inquire into scholastic affairs, and in 1839 the 
 Committee of the Privy Council on Education was formed 
 by the Privy Council of the Queen ; this is the germ of a 
 special ministry for education in England. Lord Mel- 
 bourne's ministry, and afterwards Sir Kobert Peel, aimed 
 at placing the schools under government control ; but 
 the plan had to be given up ; it was impossible at that 
 time to carry a law through Parliament, and the attempt 
 contributed not a little to the fall of Peel's ministry. 
 The difficulty lay on the one hand in the opposition of 
 Parliament and of the people against any centralising 
 measures of the government ; and on the other in the 
 religious question, where the liberty of conscience of the 
 individual as well as the antagonism between the English 
 Church and the Dissenters had to be taken into account. 
 The government was thus met by the jealousy of political 
 and religious liberty, and had to content itself in the 
 meantime with commencing some improvements, without 
 a law, in the way of administration. 
 
 But amid continued struggles the Committee of Council 
 steadily kept its object in view, and at last, after long 
 parliamentary debates, has succeeded in bringing about a 
 central administration for elementary schools. A wish 
 has often been expressed that the government should 
 take under its care those schools also which are destined 
 for the middle classes of the population ; but, hitherto, 
 the government has declined, for many other reasons, and
 
 92 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 also because it is tlioiiglit right to wait and see whether 
 the school-hoards established for elementary schools 
 might not, of themselves, enter into some connection with 
 the institutions immediately above the elementary schools, 
 which has in fact already taken place in Scotland. 
 
 The above mentioned Committee, the Education Depart- 
 ment of the Privy Council, stands under its Lord President, 
 who is responsible to Parliament, The Duke of Ptichmond 
 is now President ; the principal business of the Committee 
 devolves upon the Vice-President and his secretaries. 
 The Vice-President, now Viscount Sandon, occupies a 
 position somewhat similar to that of our Minister of 
 Instruction, but his authority is more limited. His 
 predecessor, during Mr. Gladstone's premiership, until 
 1874, was Mr. W. F. Forster, who was at the same 
 time cabinet minister, and hence still more influential. 
 The Cabinet in England is something different from 
 what it is, e.g., in Prussia, where it is the privy council 
 of the king, through which he communicates his resolu- 
 tions to the ministry. In England the Cabinet may be 
 regarded as a select committee of Parliament, or, if you 
 like, of the ministry, and constitutes the real government 
 of the country. Not all the ministers are members of 
 the Cabinet ; but the members of the Cabinet always 
 belong to the much more numerous body of the Privy 
 Council. 
 
 The Secretaries of the Education Department are in 
 a position similar to that of the Prussian Ministerial 
 Councillors {Geheime Ministerialrdthe). The principal one 
 among them at present is Sir F. E. Sandford, who is at 
 the same time Secretary of the Science and Art Depart- 
 ment for the promotion of the exact and natural sciences,
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION, 93 
 
 which ever since 1856 has been connected with the 
 Education Department. 
 
 There are at present in England one hundred and two 
 Inspectors of Schools (ten Seniors with an annual salary 
 of 700Z. each ; that of the others varies between 200?. 
 and 600?.) ; in Scotland, which has its own Education 
 Committee, there are eighteen. The action of these 
 School Inspectors and of the Education Department 
 extends, as I have already observed, only to elementary 
 schools, and among these only to those which are assisted 
 with public money. 
 
 With the higher schools the Government has nothing 
 to do, except in regard to their financial affairs, and even 
 this only if they are endowed schools, and are maintained 
 by their own endowments. As the interference in these 
 cases is on the whole very cautious, Mr. Kobert Lowe, 
 M.P., and under Mr. Gladstone a member of the Ministry, 
 might well express his indignation at the restraints put 
 upon schools by the deeds of their endowments. In a 
 speech which I heard him deliver at a school festival, 
 where he was the chairman, he said : " In England, schools 
 are managed not by strong living hands, but by dead 
 ones." The amount of such endowments in the schools of 
 England proper is estimated at about 1,000,000Z. The 
 endowments of many old schools in and near London, 
 which were at first perhaps small, have enormously in- 
 creased during the last two or three centuries, in con- 
 sequence of the rise in the value of land. In regard to 
 the application of their endowments, all these schools are 
 under the High Court of Chancery, which has the super- 
 intendence of charities and the protection of infant heirs. 
 The inquiry into the management of the property
 
 94 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 afforded to the government an opportunity, with the 
 sanction of Parliament, of gaining some insight also into 
 the pedagogic and didactic character of the schools, 
 their doings, and their course of study. For each of 
 these two objects different Commissions were appointed 
 one after another, and voluminous reports were pub- 
 lished ; at the same time the Commissioners were led by 
 their observations to suggest proposals of reforms. 
 
 A Charity Commission had been engaged for some con- 
 siderable time in inquiring into the application of the 
 funds of charitable foundations ; but in 1861 a special 
 Commission was appointed for the nine large endowed 
 schools of Eton, Winchester, Westminster, Charterhouse, 
 St. Paul's, Merchant Taylors', Harrow, Eugby, and Shrews- 
 bury ; its title is " Public Schools Commission, to inquire 
 into the revenues and management of certain colleges 
 and schools." This task was followed by others, referring 
 partly to the remaining endowed schools and other in- 
 stitutions, which occupy an intermediate position between 
 the public and the elementary schools, partly to private 
 and girls' schools, partly to scientific instruction (a Eoyal 
 Commission for this last was appointed in 1870), and 
 partly to the universities. A special " Endowed Schools 
 and Hospitals Inquiry Commission for Scotland " was 
 appointed in 1872. 
 
 The results of the inquiries were in each case laid 
 before Parliament by the Committee of Council, where- 
 upon the Public Schools Acts were passed in 1864 and 
 1868; and the Endowed Schools Acts in 1869, 1873, 
 and 1874. By the Endowed Schools Amendment Act 
 of 1874, Charity Commissioners were appointed instead 
 of the Endowed Schools Commissioners, with the same
 
 ox ENGLISH EDUCATION. 95 
 
 powers and authority. This is the still existing Com- 
 mission for the Endowed Schools. 
 
 Owing to the independence of the several foundations 
 and their great differences determined by local circum- 
 stances, the work of the Commissioners was very laborious 
 and extensive; they had to strengthen themselves by 
 Assistant Commissioners. The Commission appointed in 
 1864 had to deal with no fewer than 782 schools. Their 
 personal inquiry was generally prepared by a number of 
 questions sent to the schools. The reports mention 
 nearly 20,000 questions, which according to the special 
 circumstances were addressed to those concerned, to- 
 gether with the answers. The Commission which at 
 the request of many was formed in 1865, to inquire into 
 private schools, that wholly neglected branch of the 
 educational machinery, was ordered to address eighty-one 
 questions to the heads of such schools. These questions 
 enter much into detail in all directions, inquiring into 
 the external as well as the internal arrangements, and 
 the whole of their operation. As the admission of the 
 Commissioners in this case depended entirely upon the 
 good will of the heads of the schools, it was recommended 
 to proceed throughout the inquiry with discretion and 
 caution. It is very interesting to read the instructions 
 given to the Commissioners, e.g., those of Mr. H. J. 
 Koby,* Secretary to the Schools Inquiry Commission 
 of 1874. 
 
 At first the Commissioners did not by any means meet 
 with a cordial reception everywhere ; in some places 
 
 * He is the author of a Latin grammar in two volumes, which shows 
 that he is well acquainted with German works on the same subject. 
 He now lives at Manchester, and is the owner of a manufactory.
 
 96 GERMAN LETTEES 
 
 they even met with decided opposition and refusal. 
 Others, on the contrary, were impatient and vexed be- 
 cause, considering the urgent need of reform, they had 
 to wait for the slow process of such inquiries, and the 
 legislation that was to follow. 
 
 The reports of the different Commissions and Com- 
 missioners fill a very large number of folio and octavo 
 Blue Books, which are evidences of their labour, per- 
 severance, care, and accuracy ; but it is difficult to make 
 use of the mass of materials gradually accumulated in 
 this manner. The reports of Mr. D. K. Fearon on 
 London and Scotland are among the most searching and 
 most instructive. Printed along with them are the re- 
 ports of the Commissioners who were sent out to examine 
 corresponding schools in France, Italy, Switzerland, 
 Prussia, and Holland. The report on the higher schools 
 of Prussia is by Mr. Matthew Arnold (1868). 
 
 The result of the inquiries regarding the endowments 
 was that in many places the intentions of the founders 
 had entirely fallen into oblivion, and that the benefits 
 were not enjoyed by the poor for whom they were 
 destined, but by the wealthy ; that much carelessness, 
 abuse, and disorder existed in the administration of the 
 funds, and that the altered circumstances of the times 
 demanded a difierent application of the funds for the 
 common good. The endowments had in not a few cases 
 been anything but a blessing to the place and the 
 school ; they had accustomed the inhabitants, and the 
 teachers, too, to live on heedlessly and without an^ 
 exertion of their own : instruction, for which they 
 had not to pay, was looked upon and treated by 
 many parents with indifierence. When the Charity
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 97 
 
 Commissioners forbade the administrators of an endow- 
 ment to si^end part of its funds upon annual dinners, as 
 was the custom in some places — the experience of the 
 London Guilds had sufficiently shown what sums out of 
 their charitable endowments were annually spent upon 
 such entertainments; — it sometimes happened that they 
 were requested not to interfere with the old custom, 
 because the trustees on such occasions were sure to meet, 
 and because such social gatherings were most likely to 
 keep up a cordial feeling between them and the teachers, 
 and an interest in the school itself. 
 
 Otherwise most of the Keports about the public schools 
 expressed themselves satisfied with the state of discipline 
 and with the care taken about the physical training of 
 the pupils, but dissatisfied with the general results of the 
 instruction, and this in a still higher degree in the case 
 of a very large number of the other schools. 
 
 The first and most important result of the Eeports 
 was that, with the consent of Parliament, new governing 
 bodies were appointed for most of the public schools. 
 By the Act of 1868 these bodies were empowered to make 
 alterations. 
 
 In regard to the admission of pupils, they ruled : 
 
 1. That they should be admitted only on the ground 
 of a previous examination, and that the limits of age 
 for leaving the school should be fixed difi'erently from 
 what they had been before. 
 
 2. That the number of admissions and of foundationer- 
 should be diminished or increased according to circums 
 stances. 
 
 3. That the admission to the benefits of the endowments 
 should be granted only on the ground of examinations. 
 
 H
 
 98 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 4. That the election of masters should not be subject 
 to restrictions, e.g., that it should no longer be dependent 
 upon their having received their education in certain 
 schools and universities, and that they should not be 
 forbidden to marry. 
 
 5. That the sanitary condition of the schools should 
 be better cared for. 
 
 6. That their property should be more carefully 
 managed. 
 
 7. That the course of instruction should be enlarged in 
 some schools and limited in others. 
 
 8. That exemption from religious instruction should be 
 possible. 
 
 9. That the necessity of being boarded in the schools 
 should be abolished. 
 
 10. That the head-master should be appointed by the 
 governing body, and the masters by the head-master. 
 
 Partly the governing bodies, partly the Committee of 
 Council, or Parliament itself, now made new arrangements 
 regarding the granting of free education and other benefits 
 — arrangements which were intended to give more weight 
 to the will and real intention of the founder. In most 
 cases an open competition was instituted, and the con- 
 siderations of domicile, custom, and relationship, on which 
 previously everything had depended, were greatly limited. 
 It was, however, not thought desirable to admit the 
 poor only, which was the literal meaning of some of the 
 statutes, because the times had been very much changed, 
 and because the state now paid annually large sums for 
 the instruction of the poor. The abusive acquisition of 
 privileges was prevented. It often happened, e.g., that 
 parents took up their residence at Eugby, only for the
 
 ox ENGLISH EDUCATION 99 
 
 time that their sons attended school, in order that, as 
 inhabitants of the town, they might enjoy its privileges ; 
 upon this ground they could claim the admission of their 
 sons, however little they might be qualified by talent or 
 knowledge. As, however, the result of the competitive 
 examinations has been that the prizes were carried off by 
 the sons of wealthy parents who had been able to devote 
 more time and money to the preparation for the examina- 
 tions, more regard has of late again been paid to the 
 circumstances of the parents in admitting their sons as 
 foundationers. 
 
 Let me mention, as an example of such changes, the 
 endowment of Alleyn's College of God's Gift, at Dulwich, 
 near London ; it is the foundation of an actor, made in 
 1612, and had been for a long time in an extremely 
 neglected condition ; a dispute about the application of 
 its funds, in which some London parishes are interested, 
 had been going on for several years. The local circum- 
 stances had become quite different in the course of time, 
 as in other cases, where the founder intended to benefit 
 a particular district of the city inhabited in his time by 
 the middle classes as well as by poorer citizens. In the 
 course of time the middle classes had, to a great extent 
 gradually removed to the environs of the old city, and 
 the inhabitants of that district of the city are now, for 
 most part, poor people. 
 
 It was no longer practicable to limit the benefits of the 
 foundation to the children of those parishes, especially be- 
 cause, at the founder's death, it amounted annually to 800Z., 
 whereas now it amounts to 16,000/., and because the state 
 now takes care of the elementary instruction of the poor, 
 while there is greater need in the middle classes with 
 
 H 2
 
 100 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 small incomes. Accordiug to a decree of Parliament, 
 three-foil rt lis of tlie funds of the foundation are now 
 applied to educational purposes, and one-fourth to the 
 support of the poor. There are two educational institu- 
 tions, a lower and a higher; the latter, the Dulwich 
 College, has received a splendid new building, erected at a 
 cost of 100,0007. In both institutions the children of the 
 inhabitants of the London districts concerned enjoy some 
 advantages on their admission, provided they have acquired 
 sufficient preliminary knowledge. The new college, 
 opened in 1870, seems to progress well, and is attended 
 by considerable numbers. The fact that in its course of 
 study more than usual attention is paid to drawing arises 
 from the circumstance that the institution (like the 
 Streifsche Scliulstiftnng, at Berlin) also possesses a very 
 valuable collection of paintings, the gift of a benefactor, 
 who left a capital of 12,0007. to provide for its preserva- 
 tion in an appropriate home. 
 
 Considering that at the time when most of the schools 
 were founded Dissenters and Eoman Catholics did not 
 yet possess a legal standing in England, and that, accord- 
 ingly, only members of the Church of England had the 
 enjoyment of them, Mr. Gladstone's Ministry went so far 
 as to make the benefits of such endowments quite inde- 
 pendent of religious profession, wherever the statutes 
 were not expressly opposed to it. Toleration, enlighten- 
 ment, and the religious freedom of the present day, it was 
 said, demanded such a change ; according to the Endowed 
 Schools Act of 1869 (it does not refer to the old public 
 schools, nor does it affect either Scotland or Ireland) the 
 appointment of teachers, also, was to be independent of 
 their religious beliefs. Mr. Disraeli, Gladstone's sue-
 
 ox ENGLISH EDUCATION. 101 
 
 cesser, encleavourecl, in 1874, to abolish this arrange- 
 ment, but finding Parliament not favourable to his plan, 
 he withdrew his Endowed Schools Bill. 
 
 In regulating the property of the endowed schools, the 
 government has divided them into three grades. The 
 division depends upon the different duration of the school 
 course, and upon the average age up to which boys are 
 expected to remain at school. Schools of the first grade 
 are those at which the pupils remain up to their 
 eighteenth or nineteenth year ; of the second grade are 
 those in which they remain till about their sixteenth 
 year ; and of the third grade those in which they remain 
 until about the fourteenth. The course of instruction is 
 regulated according to this and to the available means. 
 Some institutions which, according to the intentions of 
 their founders, still continued to admit and educate boys 
 gratis, or for a small fee, up to the universities, but 
 were unable to attain this end on account of their 
 limited means, were reduced to a lower grade ; while 
 others, whose means were proved to be sufiicient, were 
 raised to the rank of schools of the first grade. 
 
 In order to establish a more suitable course of instruc- 
 tion, sometimes definite rules were laid down, e.g., that 
 the natural sciences and modern languages should be 
 introduced, and sometimes a series of general recom- 
 mendations were made to be taken into consideration. 
 
 In this new arrangement the government drew up a 
 scheme based on the Keports for each of the endowed 
 schools, and for the management of its funds ; and the 
 scheme was communicated to those whom it concerned 
 for the expression of their opinion upon it. In case of 
 the Committee of Council not being willing to consider
 
 102 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 any objections thus raised, Parliament miglit be appealed 
 to for its decision. The schemes have the force of law, as 
 soon as they have been confirmed by the Queen.* More 
 than throe hundred schemes have already been drawn 
 up, a proof of the unremitting activity of the Endowed 
 Schools Commissioners. 
 
 I asked a head-master who is very well acquainted 
 with the state of affairs, whether, in the plan of in- 
 struction and in the arrangements of the schools in 
 general, the Eecommendations were universally followed, 
 and whether more agreement thereby had been efi'ected 
 among institutions of the same kind. He smiled, and 
 then quite frankly said : " I do not think so, we are not 
 accustomed to it ; I imagine everyone now, as before, 
 does as he likes. The governing bodies, often strangely 
 composed, have the power to interfere in many ways; 
 but they are often not united among themselves or differ 
 in their opinions from the Eecommendations, and thus 
 the internal affairs of the school generally remain as they 
 were before." 
 
 All that has hitherto been done with great exertion 
 and a large expenditure are only beginnings, but not the 
 beginnings of a planned organisation ; the efforts have 
 been too isolated, and their success is too little secured. 
 The government does not touch the real work of the 
 school, but has to do almost exclusively with its externals, 
 and always only with one particular school without regard 
 to its connection with institutions pursuing the same 
 object. The government sometimes lacks the authority 
 and sometimes the energy consistently to insure general 
 
 * In the Appendix No. II. is printed, as a specimen, the sclieme for 
 the endowed school at Waketield.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 103 
 
 obedience to the new principles. The differences of the 
 authorities concerned is in most cases too great: local, 
 secular, clerical bodies, the Charity Commission, the Court 
 of Chancery, and the Parliament, have to be consulted ; 
 whence it is often very difficult and wearisome to carry 
 into effect even the most useful plans. There is always 
 the greatest fear of having anything to do with the Court 
 of Chancery, because business there is always connected 
 with a large expenditure of time and money. 
 
 The Keports and the actual condition of the schools 
 furnish abundant materials ; but where is the architect to 
 construct out of them an edifice worthy of the greatness 
 of England ? The feeling among the teachers in general 
 is that the utmost they would concede to the state is the 
 right of supervision, but not that of controlling. But 
 what is the use of supervision which cannot insure 
 corresponding effects ? 
 
 I have discussed before (p. 65) the universities only as 
 institutions for instruction and education ; I must here 
 return to them, inasmuch as recently they too have 
 become the subjects of reform, effected or introduced for 
 the most part by the orders of Parliament. 
 
 At Oxford and Cambridge the colleges form the 
 university ; the unity of the latter is overshadowed by 
 the independence of the former. Keble College, the 
 latest addition to Oxford, has been constituted in the same 
 spirit ; it is named after Keble, the poet of the ' Christian 
 Year,' who died in 1866; Merton College, the oldest, 
 was founded in 1264, 
 
 The Congregation at Oxford consists of all the Masters 
 of Arts who reside at Oxford and are actively engaged in 
 university work; hence of all the Professors, Heads of
 
 104 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 Houses, Tutors, <S:c. Convocation consists of all the 
 Masters of Arts wlio keep their names on the books, 
 amounting to upwards of four thousand men scattered 
 over all parts of the world. The Hebdomadal Council 
 consists of eight Heads of Houses, eight Professors, and 
 eight Masters of Arts, who are elected by Convocation for 
 a number of years, and have to prepare the measures 
 which are to be brought before Congregation for its 
 decision. The most numerous and most powerful body is 
 that of Convocation, which embraces all the fellows be- 
 longing to the university, wherever they may reside, and 
 which, though it does not always consist of men compe- 
 tent to judge of the questions at issue, may reject the 
 resolutions of Congregation. 
 
 The personal head of the administration in each 
 University is the Yice-Chancellor, who is elected from 
 among the heads of Colleges at Oxford by the Chancellor, 
 and at Cambridge by the Senate. The office of the 
 Chancellor is an honorary one, which, among others, the 
 late Prince Consort held : in like manner the office of 
 Visitor, which is held, for example, by the Queen and the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 The Professors belong to the university as such, and 
 not to particular colleges. Most departments of know- 
 ledge are represented by them ; but as the professor- 
 ships are based solely on endowments, it may happen 
 that one department, as, e.g., theology at Oxford, is 
 strongly represented, while others are not represented at 
 all. The Professorship of comparative philology has been 
 established at Oxford for Max Miiller. The election of 
 Professors is made in each case, according to the statute 
 of the foundation, either by Convocation, or by a select
 
 ox ENGLISH EDUCATIOX. 105 
 
 Committee of it, or by others, sucli as the bishops or the 
 Queen, i.e. by the Prime Minister. 
 
 The revenues of the colleges and universities are 
 derived from lands, houses, tithes, other foundations, and 
 from the fees of the students. In the year 1871 the 
 revenues of Oxford and Cambridge were estimated at 
 754,405?., and the anticipated increase during the next 
 fifteen years at 160,000Z. The fellowships of the two uni- 
 versities, about eight hundred in number, have together 
 endowments amounting to about 204,000/. ; about 900 
 scholarships, exhibitions and bursaries were given, of the 
 value of from about 40Z. to 150/. annually.* The sum 
 paid to professors amounted only to 7,100/., while the 
 heads of colleges at Oxford received 33,265/., and at 
 Cambridge 20,415/. for their functions, which are for the 
 most part only of a representative nature. 
 
 This way of spending the funds, disproportionate as it 
 is, and in part contrary to the intention of the founders, 
 had for a considerable time attracted public attention and 
 excited dissatisfaction. In the year 1850 a Commission 
 was appointed to inquire into the "state, discipline, studies, 
 and revenues of the universities and colleges at Oxford 
 and Cambridge ;" another was appointed in 1854. At 
 first several colleges refused to give the information re- 
 quired, and the Commissioners were obliged to search for 
 the statutes in archives and libraries. But gradually life 
 got into the movement : the colleges themselves now 
 began to reform, and, in contrast to the previous state 
 of stagnation, there now followed a time of continued 
 
 * Last year Oxford liad about 2500 students, 212 of whom were 
 unattached. Among the colleges, Christ Church had the largest 
 number, 202 ; twenty-two per cent, were in the enjoyment of college 
 scholarships.
 
 106 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 iunovations and great activity in tlieir internal and 
 external affairs. Much has already been thoroughly 
 changed by this means and by Acts of Parliament. 
 
 The most important change, the result of the Act of 
 1854, was the abolition of the religious test, whereby the 
 doors of the two universities were thrown open to all 
 without distinction of religious profession ; a considerable 
 part of the endowments also is now open to general com- 
 petition ; the necessity of taking holy orders, in order to 
 be eligible to a fellowship, has been limited to a small 
 number, in which the statutes render it unavoidable ; in 
 other respects also the somewhat monastic character of 
 the colleges has been modified in a liberal spirit, and both 
 in Cambridge and in Oxford the celibacy of fellows has, 
 on certain conditions, been abolished in several colleges. 
 Several fellowships and scholarships have been abolished 
 or diminished in value, in order to obtain the means of 
 founding new professorships or of increasing the salaries 
 of those already existing. This last measure has been 
 brought about partly by Eoyal Commissioners, and partly 
 by the spontaneous action of the colleges themselves. 
 The formerly very limited number of subjects of instruc- 
 tion and examination has been increased ; and other 
 changes are still under discussion. It is strange that such 
 things as the distinction of noblemen from the rest of the 
 students, not only in their costume and in their dining at 
 separate tables, but also in their being considered com- 
 petent to take the degree of B.A. after two years, while 
 all others require three, have been maintained so long. 
 At Oxford the distinction of noblemen by their costume 
 and by dining at separate tables has long since been 
 abolished at their own request.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 107 
 
 Public opinion is not yet satisfied with what has already 
 "been done, and demands further reforms, especially the 
 entire abolition of clerical fellowships and clerical head- 
 ships of colleges. A new Commission, in 1872, had in- 
 quired into the state of the property and income of the 
 universities and their colleges and halls ; and in the 
 present year (1876) a new Oxford and Cambridge Bill 
 has been brought into Parliament, but has not yet been 
 carried through. Its special object was a further limita- 
 tion of the fellowships, and a fairer equalisation of the 
 revenues of the colleges and of the universities as such. 
 The University of Oxford at present has a fixed annual 
 revenue of 30,000Z., while that of the colleges amounts to 
 807,0007. At Cambridge the proportion is similar, 24,0007. 
 to 264,0007. But how is the money which would then 
 become available to be applied ? 
 
 Most of the colleges having an ecclesiastical origin — as 
 even their names indicate — ought, in accordance with the 
 wishes of the founders, to furnish poor young men with 
 the means of devoting themselves undisturbed to study 
 m Q. vita communis ; they were destined " ad orandum et 
 studendum," i.e., to study for the purpose of promoting 
 their own mental culture. In the course of years they 
 have become institutions for instruction and education. 
 Only some of the younger colleges have received this 
 destination from their founders. Besides this, however, 
 contrary to the original object, a large portion of the 
 revenues is devoted to non-resident fellows without any 
 obligation whatever. 
 
 Some eminent men are now advancing a movement, the 
 object of which is to devote, if not exclusively, at least 
 the greater portion of the money which would be saved by
 
 lOS GEE^IAX LETTERS 
 
 the doing away with such idle fellowships, and is now- 
 spent either quite uselessly or merely for educational 
 purposes, to the encouragement of scientific research, in 
 order thus again to approach nearer to the original object 
 of most of these foundations. The complaint raised is 
 that the English universities are but little productive in 
 learning and science, and it is demanded that they should 
 at last cease to be mere schools. The exclusiveness with 
 which this demand is sometimes made is certainly not 
 justifiable ; for universities are not academies, and cannot 
 wish to withdraw themselves from the duty of giving 
 instruction in science and learning. For good reasons, 
 arising from the nature of the case, it has from ancient 
 times been considered the highest honour to be a doctor 
 in any one of the branches of science or learning (even 
 in the case of physicians who do not teach) : the right 
 proof that one possesses knowledge is the ability to 
 teach. It is very doubtful, however, whether— by such 
 hi,o-h prizes being conferred exclusively upon scientific 
 research— the object of extending and deepening study 
 and learning would be actually attained ; where would be 
 the guarantee that we should not have idle professorships 
 in the place of idle fellowships? 
 
 The changes already introduced are, in England, by no 
 means generally considered to be improvements. Even 
 the way in which the inherited funds have hitherto been 
 applied has its advocates. They say : the two universities 
 have produced men eminent in science and learning, only 
 by the fact that— under the protection of their clerical 
 character which permits of the free enjoyment of the 
 benefices connected with it— they render it possible 
 for fellows to travel, thus guarding them against the
 
 ox ENGLISH EDUCATION. 109 
 
 consequences of isolation, and to introduce fresh life into 
 their colleges. 
 
 It seemed to me that the chief wish and endeavour of 
 men of science and learning in England was to make their 
 universities more like the German ones, in accordance 
 with the idea that the latter are " places where all the 
 great branches of knowledge are taught and cultivated, 
 and where students and teachers are united, if not by a 
 common system of thought embracing all their studies, 
 at least by a common method and common ends." Here 
 and there it was considered as unworthy of the English 
 universities only to consume what was produced at 
 German universities. 
 
 But do not imagine that the German universities have 
 only eulogists in England. Englishmen of the old type, 
 without having any special knowledge, consider them 
 as the promoters of learned arrogance and of a ruinous 
 scepticism, and disapprove of the freedom of study as 
 well as of its results. However, I will tell you the 
 opinion of an unbiassed mind. An Englishman who had 
 lived in Bonn for a considerable time, who had a liking 
 for the customs, the language and culture of Germany, 
 and held German learning in high esteem, declared to 
 me that he was nevertheless obliged to maintain his 
 preference for the principles of the English universities. 
 
 " I have seen," said he, " that in Germany the transi- 
 tion from the school to the university is for many too 
 sudden and abrupt. All control and superintendence, 
 nay, even the compulsion to work, ceases all at once. You 
 throw the young men into the water, trusting that they 
 will surely learn to swim ; yes, the stronger minds do 
 learn it, but how many do not and perish ! Your students
 
 110 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 during six or eight semesters are mere recipients, they 
 become disused to mental exertion, and their power of 
 rendering an account of how they have digested what 
 they have received is neither exercised nor tested ; many a 
 one during that long period becomes incapable of writing 
 down his own thoughts on any subject in lucid order and 
 in a refined style. During this period of perfect liberty, 
 how does the majority of, e.g., those inscribed in the 
 faculty of law, spend the greater part of their time ? It 
 is only at a later period that they learn most from a 
 private tutor who prepares them for their examination. 
 I have also been much surprised in the class rooms by 
 the sight of the students eagerly writing down the 
 professor's words. You overlook that in Goethe's Faust 
 it is Mephisto who advises the scholar to write diligently. 
 The teaching, moreover, of many professors is nothing 
 more than dictating, and they do not exercise the 
 stimulating influence of a free discourse and of inspirit- 
 ing eloquence." 
 
 The son of Niebuhr once spoke to me in a similar 
 manner : his father too, he said, had been sorry to be 
 obliged to study in a university ; he himself (Marcus 
 Niebuhr), he added, had acquired most of his knowledge 
 of the law from private tutors. Hence he considered 
 that, independently of the lectures, seminaries were 
 indispensable for a fruitful intercourse between the 
 professors and the students ; but that those seminaries 
 already existing were insufficient. Medical students, he 
 remarked, learn most, not in the lecture room, but in the 
 hospital, the young naturalists in the laboratory and 
 in those institutions in which they can see things and 
 work by themselves.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. Ill 
 
 The increasing number of seminaries in connection 
 with the universities shows that the administrative 
 authorities and the professors themselves are conscious of 
 this want. But it is far from being sufficient, even in 
 the interests of the schools, especially if we consider the 
 prevalent tendency in most departments to make the 
 cultivation of science and learning as such the main 
 object. The consideration of the school and its require- 
 ments have been more and more pushed into the back- 
 ground, as is clear not only from the selection of authors 
 that are lectured upon, and from the manner in which 
 they are treated, but also from the lectures on natural 
 science and mathematics. 
 
 Institutions for students living together, like the 
 English colleges, do not exist in Germany, with very few 
 exceptions. But when you see how they live, and to 
 some extent must live, in large towns, and what they 
 stand in need of, we may indeed wish to see some arrange- 
 ments made to bring into harmony the advantages of 
 such collegiate institutions with that freedom which is 
 indispensable to a German student. Not only Dollinger 
 at Miinich, but Von Sybel at Bonn also has expressed his 
 approval of an experiment of this kind being made. In 
 fact, the idea of combining the university system with 
 that of colleges is excellently adapted to the wants of 
 the students : the introduction to learning and science 
 by the lectures of great masters, and a social living to- 
 gether for the intellectual digestion of what has been 
 taught and for their own exercise in scientific work. No 
 one, however, will venture to assert that this idea has 
 been realised in England. 
 
 The Scotch University Commission has not yet finished
 
 112 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 its inquiries. Of the London University I shall have to 
 speak in discussing the system of English examinations. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 Head-masters' Conferences — The Universities and their Relation to 
 the Schools— Local Examinations— The College of Preceptors. 
 
 ScarhoroiKjh. 
 
 In my last letter I have shown what the government has 
 undertaken, has done and not done, or has not been able 
 to do, for the higher educational institutions. Its measures, 
 as I have shown, refer almost exclusively to external 
 arrangements : upon the whole of the internal affairs of 
 the schools it has no influence, any more than upon the 
 training, election, and appointment of masters. The state 
 is jealously watched lest it should transgress the limits of 
 its authority : it is the dread of a bureaucracy, to submit 
 to which is a thought intolerable to Englishmen. But 
 notwithstanding this, their schools submit, as it were, un- 
 consciously to another and much more oppressive depend- 
 ence, which, as we shall see, consists in the now prevailing 
 system of examinations. To judge from the complaints I 
 have heard, it is indeed quite possible that what they 
 already have and see of bureaucracy and centralisation in 
 their elementary schools may have increased this appre- 
 hension. In fact many of the ordinances issued for the 
 endowed schools are more bureaucratic than anything 
 known in Germany. The Act of 1869, for example, in 
 reference to masters says, " In every scheme the Commis- 
 sioners shall provide for the dismissal, at pleasure, of
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 113 
 
 every teaclier and officer, including the principal teacher, 
 with or without a power of appeal, — as to the Com- 
 missioners may seem expedient." Further, with us the 
 curators (governing hody) of an institution which is 
 not supported by the state, are not prevented from selling 
 advantageously, at their own discretion, any land be- 
 longing to the institution ; in England the governors are 
 obliged first to obtain the sanction of the Court of 
 Chancery. In like manner the head-masters of endowed 
 schools are not allowed, without the authorisation of the 
 governors, to admit a boy whose parents do not reside in 
 the place, or who is not boarded in a family recognised 
 for the purpose ; in Germany the determination of such 
 matters is left to the discretion of the head-master. 
 
 Teachers are therefore resolved to defend themselves to 
 the last against the encroachments of the state. This 
 feeling is distinctly perceptible in the discussions at the 
 conferences of the head-masters, of which I have already 
 spoken. One of those who took part in them in 1872 de- 
 scribes as their object : " To organise among the masters 
 in endowed schools some means of meeting and co-opera- 
 ting with or resisting, as the case might be, the power of 
 the government ;" another in 1874 says : " Our object is 
 to form a defensive phalanx against some measures of the 
 government, that are about to be passed into law, and to 
 show that we have some existence."* 
 
 * Expressions of other head-masters to the same effect are : " The 
 parliamentary tendency to rule us from ahove is a very noxious one 
 indeed, rigid and controlling to the last degree, every year a heavier 
 yoke, till at last we shall all of us be under the heels of some govern- 
 ment official." — " If we are to have any freedom at all, we must keep 
 our necks out of that yoke."— "When at Highgate somebody raised ih« 
 ghost of state inspection, head-masters were seized witii a panic." — " I 
 
 i
 
 114 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 The call for such conferences proceeded in 1869 from 
 the Eev. Edward Thring,* the head-master of the school 
 at Uppingham ; and in the circumstances of the higher 
 schools at the time, the call was very welcome to many, 
 as a first step to get out of their isolation. These con- 
 ferences have been held in 1871 at the school at Highgate, 
 in 1872 at Birmingham, in 1873 at AVinchester, in 1874 
 at Dulwich, in 1875 at Clifton, and this year it is intended 
 to hold the meeting in Marlborough College. The num- 
 bers attending fluctuated between fifty and seventy. In 
 several places, for example at Dulwich, all were hospitably 
 entertained at the expense of the head-master. 
 
 In reading the reports and minutes of these conferences 
 I was soon struck by their difierence from the protocols 
 of the conferences of our Prussian head-masters, for while 
 the latter at once take up the real questions and tho- 
 roughly discuss a great number of them,! the English 
 meetings have still a great deal to do in constituting them- 
 selves and getting into working order. The complications 
 of a parliamentary procedure, and all manner of pre- 
 liminary questions, have hitherto absorbed a great deal of 
 time. One of these questions in particular was whether, 
 
 do uot think we should like to see our education put into the hands of 
 an educational minister. I do not think we should like to see political 
 ideas introduced into our upper education. It would utterly do away 
 with that free and full development of power, and that originality, 
 which are the very characteristics and the glory of the upper-class 
 education of England." 
 
 * Author of valuable school books, among them of a ' Latin 
 Gradual,' of a peculiar method. 
 
 f An instructive survey of the protocols of the Prussian head-masters' 
 conferences which have hitherto been held, has just been published by 
 Professor Eiier, jjcrliu, 187G.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 115 
 
 besides the head-masters, assistant masters also were to be 
 admitted. The subject has been very minutely discussed 
 at several meetings, but no agreement has yet been come 
 to. It was finally left to the individual members of the 
 conference to discuss previously with their assistants the 
 questions that were to be brought before the meeting — 
 a thing which in Prussia is always done — and to the 
 assistant masters to meet among themselves for the same 
 purpose, in a manner similar to the numerous free asso- 
 ciations in Germany. Wishes have also been expressed 
 to hold " educational congresses, open to all teachers and 
 examiners of first and second grade schools, and to all pro- 
 fessors and teachers at the universities." They would 
 resemble the great meetings of philologists and teachers 
 in Germany. 
 
 The above-mentioned question is of greater importance 
 in England than with us, and points to an essential dif- 
 ference between the higher schools of the two countries. 
 In England the head-masters, as soon as at their confer- 
 ences they have to consider practical questions about 
 instruction, feel the necessity of having their assistant 
 masters by their side. Here we see the consequences of 
 the custom prevailing in England, according to whicli 
 every teacher confines himself to his own department, and 
 of the want of an organic connection in the internal 
 management of the schools, where the head-master does 
 not concern himself about what the several masters are 
 doing ; whether they have worked usefully and success- 
 fully, he learns from the results of the examinations. In 
 Germany the head-master is not expected to be able to 
 teach every subject of the other masters, e.g. mathematics, 
 
 and the natural sciences ; but he must at any rate be so 
 
 i2
 
 116 GERMAX LETTERS 
 
 far acquainted with them as to be able to form an opinion 
 upon the appropriateness and effectiveness of the teacher's 
 method, and in case of need to direct his attention to any 
 defect in his mode of proceeding. In England this is not 
 expected, and hence the head-master allows each master 
 in his own department to act as he pleases. If at their 
 conferences the head-masters have to discuss these subjects 
 of instruction, they are generally wanting in sufficient in- 
 formation, and without experience of their own. At each 
 of their annual conferences the head-masters appoint an 
 executive body to carry out the resolutions which have 
 been adopted, e.g. to address memorials to the universi- 
 ties or to the Committee of Council on Education, and 
 to make the necessary arrangements for next year's 
 meeting. Eecently head-masters of grammar schools of a 
 lower grade have several times met in such conferences. 
 
 What has given rise to these different meetings and 
 discussions, and the manner in which the discussions are 
 carried on in them, prove that efforts are made to supply 
 by their own resolutions that which in other countries is 
 done in these respects by the guiding authorities. Among 
 these things I may specially mention the impulse which 
 the head-masters' conferences have given to the Universi- 
 ties of Oxford and Cambridge to hold leaving examinations, 
 similar to the German Ahiturienten-Exameti, and to give 
 certificates founded upon them. 
 
 What the head-masters want is not only a stronger union 
 and a closer connection, but a guiding authority : this is 
 the general feeling among them, though it is not expressed 
 in 80 many words. But where is such an authority that 
 could supply the place of a guiding administration, and 
 might step in where the state cannot act ? In particular
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 117 
 
 cases Englishmen readily acknowledge learned associations, 
 which are universally respected, as authorities. Thus, e.g., 
 the British Association for the advancement of science was 
 readily listened to when in 1869 it wished the condition 
 of scientific instruction in the public schools to he inquired 
 into. But by such means no real progress is made. In 
 all public, and in not a few private relations, very great 
 importance is attached in England to testimonials and 
 recommendations, provided that the persons by whom 
 they are given enjoy general esteem and confidence. 
 The schools themselves are not in a condition to satisfy 
 this want of testimonials in every respect; they are them- 
 selves obliged to receive directions for their mode of 
 instruction from a higher authority supposed to belong 
 to examiners who grant certificates. 
 
 Here the universities, especially those of Oxford, Cam- 
 bridge, and London, have stepped in ; in this respect they 
 have for some years done a vast amount of good to the 
 higher schools of the country. You may hear it said in 
 England that Oxford and Cambridge have been led to 
 this by the instinct of self-preservation ; their inactivity, 
 apparently connected with their wealth, was beginning 
 to make them unpopular. Hence they stepped forward, 
 and, offering their services to the schools, they voluntarily 
 undertook to do for them work which no one else per- 
 formed, and which is of the greatest interest to the 
 country at large; by this means they very soon re- 
 covered their position. But what they do for the schools, 
 and the manner in which they do it, must appear ex- 
 ceedingly strange to those who know only the continental 
 universities, and have from them formed their concep- 
 tions of the proper sphere of their activity. With us
 
 118 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 the universities are tlie high schools of real learning and 
 science ; the different faculties have, at any rate in their 
 idea, philosophy as their common bond. The preparatory 
 education attested by the certificates of maturity con- 
 stitutes the universally recognised right to be admitted 
 to a university. 
 
 What I have said before about the English universities, 
 as forming the highest in the series of the higher edu- 
 cational institutions, will sufiiciently prove that they do 
 not correspond to this conception of ours. But in Eng- 
 land it is thought that the education afforded, especially 
 by Oxford and Cambridge, is the standard of mental 
 culture in general, and belongs to the foundations of the 
 nation's intellectual life, such as it is manifested in its 
 representatives in the two Houses of Parliament. It is 
 well-known that in the universities all sciences have 
 their ablest representatives, and it is without hesitation 
 assumed that they are the safest and most impartial 
 judges. Thus they are undoubted authorities, and have 
 imperceptibly acquired the character of the highest 
 authority in scholastic matters. 
 
 In a former letter I spoke of the deeply felt defects in 
 the education of the middle classes of the population. 
 When the universities resolved to afford help in this 
 direction, they might be sure of the approval of many. 
 It was looked upon as an approximation between the 
 hidier and lower ranks of the educated part of the 
 nation, as a breaking down of the barriers which had 
 hitherto separated the high learned and scientific studies 
 from the practical objects of instruction ; it was like a 
 revolution, and it proceeded from Oxford, the most 
 conservative of the old universities.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 119 
 
 A plan drawn up at Oxford in 1858 by Mr. T. D. 
 Acland and Mr. F. Temple, who were joined by Prof. 
 Max Miiller, for holding middle-class examinations in the 
 name of the university, and for granting certificates to 
 all those who wished to prepare themselves for practical 
 business, such as commerce, industry, or agriculture, 
 was adopted and carried into effect. Two kinds of exa- 
 minations were proposed to be held in different central 
 localities, the first for junior boys, below the age of 
 15, and the second for seniors or boys below the age 
 of 18.* 
 
 The great advantage of this scheme, which was at once 
 obvious to the public, was the fact that by the subjects 
 required for examination by so exalted a body, definite 
 subjects of instruction were indicated, towards which 
 both masters and pupils had to work. The names of the 
 boys who had been examined, and the schools from which 
 they came, were each time to be published, in order to 
 make known in this way the success of the different 
 institutions, which would at the same time be a recom- 
 mendation of the head-master and his assistants. But 
 those also were admitted who had prepared themselves 
 privately, in order to encourage self-education ; and those 
 of the senior boys, who had passed the examination 
 satisfactorily, were to have the privilege of calling them- 
 selves Associates in Arts of the University of Oxford, 
 and of adding to their names A.A. Besides the diplomas 
 and certificates, prizes (books, instruments, and scholar- 
 ships) also are publicly given. Once, e.g., such prizes 
 were distributed at London in the Guildhall, when the 
 Lord Mayor was in the chair, in the presence of the 
 
 * For details about these examinations, see Appendix No. III.
 
 120 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 Bishop of London and other notabilities, and a numerous 
 assemblage. 
 
 Many soon began to avail themselves of the offer of the 
 university; even in 1859 such examinations were held in 
 fifteen towns by delegates from Oxford, and five hundred 
 and ninety-seven juniors and two hundred and ninety- 
 nine seniors were examined. The number of the former 
 is always larger, because after receiving their certificates 
 they generally leave school; of the seniors some pass 
 on to the university. The number of places desiring 
 such examinations, and of the boys to be examined, is in- 
 creasing from year to year. The examinations were after- 
 wards extended to girls, likewise divided into juniors and 
 seniors. They are now commonly called Local Examina- 
 tions, while at first they were termed middle-class and 
 non-gremial examinations. The example of Oxford was 
 followed by Cambridge, Durham, Dublin, and Edinburgh, 
 but without granting the title of Associate. The syndi- 
 cate of the university elects the examiners from among 
 the fellows. The locality in each town for holding the 
 examinations is usually the town-hall. In the case of 
 the examinations conducted by Oxford, every junior has 
 to pay a fee of 15s., and every senior 30.s. Oxford holds 
 these examinations in May, and Cambridge in December. 
 As the British colonies also wished to avail themselves 
 of these arrangements, the examination questions are 
 sent out to them in all directions. The number entered 
 this year for the Oxford examination was 2141, of whom 
 624 were seniors (357 boys and 207 girls) and 1517 
 juniors (1201 boys and 316 girls) ; for the Cambridge 
 examination in December of last year the number of 
 entrants was 4435 ; they were examined in sixty-nine
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 121 
 
 centres for boys, and fifty-seven for girls ; in the colonies 
 seventy-nine were examined. 
 
 We thus see the universities condescending, and through 
 their delegates occupying themselves with school-boys 
 and school-girls of 12 and 13 years, putting questions on 
 quite elementary subjects, as spelling, parsing, hand- 
 writing, the first elements of arithmetic, geography, &c., 
 and examining the answers sent in. I need not say a word 
 on the importance of these things themselves ; and there 
 is no doubt that not only the fellows, but even the j^ro- 
 fessors of the university, and men high in science and 
 learning, may have sufiicient interest and ability to 
 undertake such work, I remember Mr. Mark Pattison's 
 (now Eector of Lincoln College, Oxford) visit to Berlin, 
 and the excellent manner in which he inquired into the 
 subject of elementary schools in Prussia. The thorough- 
 ness of his observations is clear from his printed report 
 (1871). The question, however, is : Is it the business of 
 a university as such, to occupy itself with these things 
 in the manner in which it is done in England ? 
 
 We in Germany are of opinion that it is not ; in 
 England, on the other hand, the voluntary action of the 
 universities in the afi'airs of the schools is approved of, 
 though not universally. Mr. Gladstone, in a speech 
 delivered in 1858, praised the resolution of the University 
 of Oxford, and said that by thus embracing all the in- 
 tellectual interests of the whole nation, from the lowest 
 to the highest stage, it returned to its original destina- 
 tion of a " University." How many diff'erent meanings 
 have been given in the course of time to the word 
 Universitas ? First it was to be a union of the corpo- 
 rations of students ; next a communio magistrorum et
 
 122 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 scholarium ; next a union of all the sciences; and now the 
 comprising of all intellectual stages, from the lowest to 
 the highest. In England the first and the last of these 
 meanings are most generally adopted. 
 
 When some head-masters discovered the inconveniences 
 for the school, as a whole, arising from individual pupils 
 only heing prepared for the examinations, and accordingly 
 proposed that some one should he delegated rather to 
 examine the whole institution, the universities were 
 willing to undertake this duty also. Even hefore this, 
 fellows had been sent for a similar purpose at the request 
 of heads of private schools, who were anxious to be able 
 to point to such a connection with Oxford as a recom- 
 mendation of their schools. Public schools, too, put 
 themselves into a sort of clientship to a university, or a 
 similar institution, and belong, as it were, to its retinue, 
 in order to have some guaranteeing connection, and 
 thereby to secure greater confidence with the public. 
 Several institutions, e.(/., add in their prospectus, " in 
 connection with South Kensington " (intimating that 
 they teach practical subjects, realia), or " in union with 
 King's College, London." The latter thereby acquires the 
 right of occasionally visiting the school, like a govern- 
 ment inspector. These visitations generally consist in 
 written questions being put to the pupils, which they 
 have to answer. But I will not enter here upon the 
 subject of examinations. Those delegated to visit a 
 school usually live in the house of the head-master, and 
 are paid by him for their trouble. 
 
 "We cannot recognise in tliis arrangement an equivalent 
 for the official objectivity, with which a perfectly indepen- 
 dent school authority proceeds. Nor is it the same as
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 123 
 
 the arrangement in Bavaria, the only large state of 
 Germany that has no permanent department for the 
 government of schools provided with technical powers ; 
 for there Commissions, composed of professors and 
 teachers, are appointed from time to time to deliberate 
 about school questions, or to visit the schools in the name 
 of the government ; for such visits the schools have, of 
 course, not to pay anything. 
 
 Oxford and Cambridge, moreover, have endeavoured to 
 supply the want of a government administration by their 
 holding, ever since 1874, a kind of Ahiturienten-Examma.- 
 tion (for certificates), while the London University has 
 already, for years, had its Matriculation Examinations. 
 In Germany the standard of requirements for such ex- 
 aminations is fixed by the government, and the same 
 examination is held at the close of the curriculum in all 
 the schools of the same category. In England they are 
 held at difi'erent times during the school course, and more 
 rarely for those who have gone through the entire course 
 than for other pupils of the higher forms who desire it, 
 but also for boys of fifteen years, and even below that age. 
 The two universities have now come to an understanding 
 about these examinations, and proceed according to regula- 
 tions agreed upon by both ; in most colleges those who 
 have passed are afterwards exempted from the first 
 university examination. By means of such a certificate 
 young men entering upon the study of medicine, law, 
 upon a military career, or the study of architecture, are 
 exempted from what is called the previous examination. 
 Schools may accept, or not, as they please, the ofi'er of 
 such examinations ; many have accepted it, but others, 
 like the Charterhouse, have not ; others, again, prefer the
 
 124 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 examinations of the London University, which certainly 
 is more strictly defined, and has more of the character of 
 the German Ahiturienten-Examen. The system is perfectly 
 voluntary on the part of the schools, as well as on that 
 of the universities ; in like manner it is left to the 
 option of the public and the government as to whether 
 they will recognise the certificates or not. 
 
 It is not unnatural that the higher schools should 
 prefer the supervision and influence of the universities 
 exercised in the manner described to the dependence 
 on a state authority ; but it is, nevertheless, strange 
 that in one direction there should be so much mis- 
 trust, and in the other so much readiness as to renounce 
 all independence and co-operation. What could have 
 been more natural than for the head-masters to unite 
 together and to request the universities, in conjunction 
 with themselves, to fix the subjects of instruction and 
 the requirements for the examinations ? This has not 
 been done ; the rules laid down by the universities, with 
 all their details and provisoes, are accepted at once and 
 without hesitation, and are spoken of as if they were the 
 ordinances of a legally constituted authority. I heard a 
 head-master say : " We are noiv allowed the same latitude 
 in modern languages that we are in classics, and that is 
 an important concession." 
 
 The active and patriotic endeavours of the English 
 universities to promote the general interest of culture 
 are manifested also in the manner in which they extend 
 their teaching powers to other localities. Wherever it is 
 desired they send travelling teachers to deliver courses of 
 lectures ; this has been done by Cambridge with great 
 success, especially at Sheffield and Nottingham, both of
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 125 
 
 which towns have spent large sums upon such lectures. 
 The subjects are history, literature, and especially political 
 economy, in which working men also are interested, and 
 which they can discuss in their meetings. Married 
 women and girls also may attend. The universities further 
 also hold examinations on the subjects of the lectures 
 and give certificates. The written answers on several 
 subjects, according to the reports, contain not much 
 more than a reproduction of what had been said by the 
 lecturers ; they are " a repetition of formulated phrases 
 in place of an intelligent assimilation and reproduction 
 of their general purj^ort." 
 
 The universities, further, with praiseworthy readiness 
 give their assistance to the formation of new educational 
 establishments. Balliol and New College of Oxford give 
 each annually 300Z., to promote University College at 
 Bristol, and this is only one out of many instances. 
 
 In Scotland there is no such connection between the 
 higher schools and the universities as in England, which 
 is explained by their difi"erence from the old English 
 universities. But from 1861 to 1873, parochial school- 
 masters were examined by the Scottish universities. 
 
 There are yet other places and other associations 
 which from a sense of their being wanted, are en- 
 deavouring to perform for schools the functions of 
 government. Such is the case, among others, of the 
 Society of Arts, a society for promoting scientific and 
 practical objects, which at the time was specially 
 patronised by the late Prince Consort. After it had 
 acquired a name by its activity, and gained the approba- 
 tion of the public, it offered to conduct examinations and 
 grant certificates of knowledge on subjects connected
 
 126 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 \Yitli practical life ; for tins purpose it has established 
 examining commissions in about one hundred towns. 
 The certificates, as in all such cases, are considered to 
 be of value, because and as long as the society itself 
 is respected. In several places educational boards have 
 been formed. One exists, e.g., in the AVest Eiding of 
 Yorkshire, which has been formed by the bishop of the 
 diocese, a member of Parliament, and other persons of 
 influence ; its object is to examine pupils of mechanics' 
 institutes, of evening schools, and similar institutions. 
 The most important among such free associations is the 
 College of Precepiors in London. In the year 1846 a 
 number of teachers met there with the intention of 
 promoting education in every way, but chiefly among 
 the middle classes. The association wished principally 
 to direct its attention to the training of teachers, and 
 to afi'ord opportunities for acquiring certificates of 
 qualification to be obtained by examinations.* In 1849 
 it received the rights of a corporation by royal charter, 
 and has since that time carried on its work, which 
 increases year by year. Its operation embraces the 
 following points. 
 
 1. It grants diplomas to teachers who have not been in 
 a position to study at a university and to obtain a degree, 
 after they have passed examinations either as Asso- 
 
 * According to their own words the association was formed "for the 
 purpose of promoting sound learning and of advancing the interests of 
 education, especially among the middle classes, by affording facilities to 
 the teacher for acquiring a knowledge of his profession, and by provi- 
 ding for the periodical session of a competent board of examiners, to 
 ascertain and give certificates of the acquirements and fitness for their 
 office of persons engaged, or desiring to be engaged, in the education of 
 youth."
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 127 
 
 ciates, Licentiates, or as Fellows of the College. The 
 difference is one of degree, according to the amount of 
 knowledge required. The theory and practice of educa- 
 tion are subjects of examination at all the three different 
 stages. Lady teachers also are examined and obtain 
 certificates. 
 
 2. Since 1854, it has every half-year held examinations 
 for boys and girls, similar to those subsequently in- 
 stituted by Oxford and Cambridge at their already 
 mentioned local examinations. In the year 1859 two 
 hundred and thirty-six persons were examined ; last 
 year, however, the number who came forward from 
 about one hundred and fifty schools to be examined by 
 the college amounted to about two thousand eight 
 hundred. In like manner it sends its delegates, when 
 desired, to examine whole schools, both public and private, 
 
 3. It possesses a very well-attended training class for 
 teachers, gives lectures on pedagogy and the methods 
 of instruction, and has founded a special chair for a pro- 
 fessor of the science and art of education. 
 
 4. It publishes a pedagogic monthly journal, called the 
 Educational Times. 
 
 The efforts of the college to induce the government 
 to establish a seminary (normal school) for the higher 
 schools similar to those which have been established and 
 endowed for elementary schools, have hitherto been un- 
 successful. During the present year it has commenced a 
 movement to induce the government to appoint a special 
 educational council as a board of inspectors for the super- 
 vision of public and private secondary schools. 
 
 The members of the college meet every month, on 
 which occasions lectures also are given. The Council of
 
 128 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 the college includes a great many well-known men, and 
 its presidents have not unfrequently been the head- 
 masters of the great public schools. 
 
 The first-class certificates granted by the college to 
 young persons are regarded by the legal, medical, and 
 other societies and corporations as satisfactory proofs of 
 general culture ; further, several societies have their 
 entrance examinations on the subjects of general culture 
 conducted by the college. 
 
 The college has shown praiseworthy consistency and 
 perseverance in its various pedagogic endeavours in spite 
 of many hostile attacks and want of appreciation. It is 
 a matter of course, that the certificates it grants do not 
 everywhere meet with the same recognition. In a few 
 instances the title of Associate or Licentiate had at first 
 been conferred without proper inquiry upon unqualified 
 persons. Such occurrences point to the weak side of the 
 undertaking ; the relation between the college and the 
 various persons and institutions connected with it is too 
 distant, and has no sufficiently firm basis. Experiences 
 of the above description have, however, not remained 
 unfruitful to the college, and, as is proved by the ever- 
 widening sphere of its activity, public confidence has 
 of late greatly increased. 
 
 Next to directing its attention to the training and the 
 examination of teachers, the Council of the college have 
 made it their task to raise the social position of teachers, 
 and to encourage an esprit de corps among them. In 
 order to attain this object, the college has for several 
 years been incessantly endeavouring to obtain registra- 
 tion by the government for teachers in public and private 
 Kchools, in other words, to obtain a legal enactment that
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 129 
 
 no one shall be accepted as a teacher, who does not pos- 
 sess a certificate from some recognised board of examiners, 
 and who is not registered by them ; in which case the 
 college confidently expects its certificates to be recog- 
 nised. At present registration exists for legal and 
 medical, as well as for pharmaceutical practitioners, and 
 it guarantees that the persons in question are of respect- 
 able character; in the case of teachers, this law for 
 excluding those unfit for their duties has not yet been 
 secured. The repeated observation that, as government 
 takes measures for the bodily health against quackery 
 in medicine, the same care is still more necessary in 
 the case of the soul and the mind, has hitherto been of 
 no avail. 
 
 Article twenty-two of the Prussian Constitution permits 
 everyone to give instruction, to establish schools, and to 
 conduct them, 'provided he has proved to the state autho- 
 rities that he possesses the moral, scientific, and technical 
 qualifications. In England the first part of this pro- 
 position has been adopted without any condition, and this 
 liberty is tenaciously adhered to ; the principle of free 
 trade, they say, must be maintained in education as in 
 other matters ; here too supply and demand must be left 
 to act on each other, and the public must not be deprived 
 of the advantages of competition. 
 
 The reserve of the government in regard to the urgent 
 requests of the College of Preceptors in this matter is 
 not unnatural. The college claims for itself an autho- 
 rity, by which its certificates would acquire a definite 
 public value. But the government is not in a position to 
 test the standard according to which the certificates for 
 the difi'erent kinds of instruction and schools are granted 
 
 K
 
 130 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 by the college, and to estimate its relation to the exami- 
 nation standards of the old universities, and hence it 
 is unable to reconcile any diflferences that may exist 
 between them. The appeal to what has been done for 
 the legal and medical corporations does not meet the 
 question, because their affairs are more equal and simple. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 The present System of Exfiminations in Universities and Schools- 
 Competitive Examinations. 
 
 Scarh/rouyJi. 
 
 The only subject of this letter shall be the English 
 system of examinations. It has become so much extended 
 and is so important, that after having had several 
 occasions to speak about examinations, I think I must 
 now devote a special letter to them. 
 
 Last century, and even at the beginning of the present, 
 pupils, students, and candidates for office were rarely 
 examined ; it was thought to be of no particular import- 
 ance. Not very long ago a real examination was not 
 thought necessary for medical and legal practice, for the 
 architect, the naval captain, the officer in the army, &c. 
 Testimonials and recommendations were thought to be 
 sufficient attestations of the qualification of the candidates 
 for the object in view. Cases were not uncommon like 
 that of the young teacher who presented himself for 
 examination to the school inspector, and who during 
 a walk with him was examined without knowing it, 
 because there had been many opportunities of displaying 
 natural intelligence and readiness.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 131 
 
 All this has gradually become totally changed, and the 
 present mania for examination is an excess of English 
 energy. The admission to most offices is at present only 
 through the narrow gate of an examination. In like 
 manner, scarcely any benefice can be obtained without 
 a previous examination. The universities have set the 
 example.* Twenty-five years ago I found at Oxford 
 much more undisturbed devotion to study and a real 
 interest in the subjects ; at present, go when you like, 
 you will find few men belonging to the university who 
 are not actively or passively engaged in some examina- 
 tion. The number of fellows who can still devote them- 
 selves to a comfortable or contemplative life has become 
 small ; the examinations no longer leave them any rest. 
 If you take up any English educational journal, you will 
 find that no subject is more frequently spoken of than 
 examinations, either past or future, certificates, degrees, 
 scholarships, and prizes obtained; to this there are always 
 added lists of the examined, and the names of the schools 
 in which they have been prepared. If a man is to be 
 honourably mentioned, or recommended for any purpose, 
 his name is always accompanied by a statement of the 
 examination he has passed, and the degree, title, and 
 distinctions he has obtained. 
 
 How heavily this system of examinations weighs upon 
 the schools on account of the disturbances in the course 
 of instruction, the nature of the demands, the great 
 expense and other inconveniences, may be seen, among 
 other things, from the minutes of the head-masters' 
 conferences, at which hitherto scarcely any other subject 
 
 * " The iron of examination which has entered into the soul of the 
 nation Ava'; for^d at Oxford and Camln'idge." 
 
 K 2
 
 132 GEEMAX LETTEES 
 
 has been talked of. Nevertheless the advantages aj^pear 
 
 to many teachers to overbalance the disadvantages. One 
 
 of them said to me : " We were before like the Israelites 
 
 when they had no king ; every one acted as he thought 
 
 fit : since the net of examinations has been spread over 
 
 our schools we know what we have to do." But let us 
 
 look at the matter more closely. 
 
 In regard to the schools which are here principally to 
 
 be considered, that is, the numerous endowed schools, we 
 
 first have the examinations for admission which are almost 
 
 universally introduced ; next come the class examinations, 
 
 and in most cases also examinations for promotion from 
 
 one form to another ; lastly, frequent examinations by 
 
 delegates sent from universities. I have before me a 
 
 printed scheme from a school which is probably intended 
 
 also as a guide for the pupils ; in it there are fixed no 
 
 fewer than forty-four examinations for the highest class 
 
 from the 17th of June to the 22nd of July of the present 
 
 year. Besides this the Endowed Schools Act prescribes 
 
 that there shall be annually an extraordinary general 
 
 examination.* In schools of a practical nature, if they 
 
 desire it, " government examinations are held by the 
 
 Science and Art Department." Many individual scholars 
 
 undergo special examinations to compete for school or 
 
 * " There shall be once in every year an examination of scholars by 
 an examiner or examiners a2)pointed for that purpose by the governors, 
 and paid by them, but unconnected with the school. The examiners 
 shall report to the governors on the proficiency of the scholars and on 
 the position of the school as regards instruction and discipline as shown 
 by the result of the examination. The governors shall communicate 
 the report to the head-master." — For every school examination four 
 guineas per day have to be paid to every delegate sent by the univer- 
 sity, besides his travelling and lodging expenses. Some institutions, 
 such as Eton, pay very much more.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 133 
 
 university scholarships and other benefices. Those who 
 contemplate leaving a school moreover prepare for an 
 examination for a certificate, or for the matriculation 
 examination in the London University. In order not to 
 disturb these preparations several schools now no longer 
 send any seniors to the local examinations (p. 119, &c.). 
 
 Oxford and Cambridge annually publish their very 
 detailed regulations for holding the examination for 
 certificates. Sealed questions, to which written answers 
 have to be returned, are sent to the head-master ; the 
 real examination is conducted by a delegate from the 
 universities, who alone examines. In the regulations for 
 1876 four groups are specified : — 
 
 1. Latin, Greek, French, and German. 
 
 2. Lower and higher Mathematics. 
 
 3. Bible Knowledge, English, and History. 
 
 4. Mechanics, Chemistry, Botany, Geology, and Physical 
 Geography. 
 
 In order to obtain a certificate every one must give 
 satisfaction in at least four subjects, which are taken from 
 at least three groups ; and whoever passes in one subject 
 from the second or fourth group may take the other three 
 from group one. No one is allowed to take up more than 
 six subjects. The written answers must contain evidence 
 that the candidate possesses a suflicient knowledge of 
 English orthography and grammar. The books and sec- 
 tions of authors that have to be translated are made known 
 long beforehand, and it is left optional to take up either 
 the easier or more difficult ones, just as in the written 
 questions. But in addition passages from authors not 
 named (unseen work) are required to be translated into 
 English. It is not required to write free essays in Latin,
 
 134 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 but, like the performances in Latin and Greek versifica- 
 tion, tliey are liiglily valued when they are done in any 
 way satisfactorily. 
 
 All these, so far as they are conducted by the uni- 
 versities, are non-gremial examinations. Now what are 
 the examinations in gremio Universitatis ? 
 
 I have already mentioned that those who enter a 
 university cannot at once give themselves up to profes- 
 sional studies, but must think of the preliminary exami- 
 nations in order to obtain the degree of B.A. For this 
 purpose three examinations are necessary at Oxford : 
 
 1. The Little Go, also called Eesponsions, which takes 
 place in the first year. It has been already remarked 
 that those who can produce certificates may be exempted 
 from it (p. QG). 
 
 2. Moderations, or first public examination, which takes 
 place in the second year. Those who only desire to 
 satisfy the simplest requirements (the ancient languages, 
 knowledge of the New Testament, two books of Euclid 
 and Arithmetic) are called passmen ; those who aim at 
 honours have to satisfy higher demands, sometimes to 
 compose Latin and Greek verses, to undergo an examina- 
 tion in logic, &c., and are called classmen. 
 
 3. The Great Go, which takes place after three years 
 of study, and is the final examination upon which the 
 diploma of B.A. is granted. Classmen, after having passed 
 moderations, may proceed to their special studies in the 
 ancient languages or in mathematics, or in the natural 
 sciences, or in modern history and legislation, for which 
 purpose standard books are always recommended to be 
 studied. Before being admitted to the final examination 
 students must present themselves for examination to the
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION, 135 
 
 professor of tlie branch of knowledge selected for special 
 study. Most men prefer studying the classics, because 
 they have been accustomed by their public school life to 
 attach greater importance to them. The third examina- 
 tion is conducted only in writing, the preceding ones are 
 both oral and written. 
 
 The course at Cambridge does not differ materially from 
 this, except that there, according to ancient custom, more 
 knowledge of mathematics is required. In every college 
 there is moreover at least one special annual examination. 
 After three years every one may take part in a competitive 
 examination in mathematics, in literature, in the moral 
 and natural sciences, or in history and the knowledge 
 of law. This examination is called Tripos,* because 
 there are three degrees. Those who have obtained the 
 first degree, and have j^assed the difficult examination in 
 mathematics, are called Wranglers ; those of the second 
 degree are called Seniores Optimi ; and those of the third 
 degree, Juniores Optimi. Whoever at Cambridge satisfies 
 all the requirements in Classics and Mathematics is termed 
 a Double First. At Oxford this honourable designation can 
 now be obtained by passing either in Classics and Mathe- 
 matics, or in Classics and History, or in Classics and 
 Chemistry. 
 
 The examination for the degree of B.A. is in reality no 
 more than the Ahiturienten examination in Germany. It 
 is true the requirements to some extent go beyond our 
 Ahiturienten examinations, but the majority of the can- 
 didates are said to show very little knowledge. Dr. W. 
 Whewell, the late Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, 
 
 * The Tripos was orignally the three-legged chair occupied by the 
 person to be examined.
 
 136 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 saiil : '' We give university honours for mere school-boy 
 work."* 
 
 The next degree of M.A. is acquired in Oxford and 
 Cambridge in the sixth year after matriculation, and 
 ^Yithout any new examination ; but a B.A. must keep his 
 name all that time on the books of the university and on 
 those of his college, and pay an annual fee. 
 
 The little University of Dnvham has the right of 
 granting the degree of M.D., whence the pupils of the 
 Medical Institute in the neighbouring town of Newcastle 
 proceed thither for one year for the purpose of passing 
 there the requisite examination : others prefer doing this 
 in the University of London, where, according to its 
 special arrangement, a previous residence is not required. 
 
 The Universitij of London is of an entirely different 
 character from all the others. It was founded in 1837, in 
 opposition to the two ancient universities, which origin- 
 ated in the middle ages, and were connected with the 
 English Church ; it has no tradition and no endowment, 
 and is not connected with any Church ; it is neither 
 destined to educate nor to teach, but only to examine and 
 to confer degrees and diplomas. Eespecting University 
 College and University College School, which are connected 
 with the university as institutions for instruction, I have 
 already spoken (p. 64), The London university holds half- 
 yearly matriculation examinations in London itself, in other 
 
 * The condemnatory jiiilji;niont of another itniversity professor ujion 
 the first two examinations is still more severe. " llesponsions and 
 pass moderations are examinations which it is an indignity to require a 
 man to undergo who has arrived at years of discretion. That such ex- 
 aminations, which ought to be easy for a boy of fourteen, should be 
 found too hard for a large proportion of the candidates, says but little 
 for the education given in our English schools."
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 137 
 
 towns of England,* and in the Colonies. The degree of B. A. 
 also can be obtained in London in absentia. Young men 
 may be entered for the matriculation examination at the 
 age of sixteen, for the B.A. at seventeen, and for the M.A, 
 at nineteen. For the first of these examinations twenty- 
 eight hours in five days are set apart, of which sixteen 
 hours are devoted to Latin, Greek, and English, and the 
 rest to Mathematics, and the Natural Sciences of Physics 
 and Chemistry. The sciences are there considered of 
 greater importance than is generally the case at Oxford 
 and Cambridge. No one can pass the Matriculation exa- 
 mination without a satisfactory knowledge of physics and 
 chemistry. Among the ancient languages, Latin is always 
 one of the subjects of examination. Mr, G. Grote, who 
 was for a long time Vice-Chancellor of the University, 
 advocated the claims of Greek also against the utilitarians. 
 He was indeed an admirer of the natural sciences, but he 
 was at the same time of opinion that in our time they 
 would support themselves, while the acquisition of the 
 ancient languages, which promised less immediate gain, 
 required a stimulus and encouragement. Nevertheless 
 two years ago Greek was taken away from the obligatory 
 subjects at matriculation, and it was permitted instead 
 of it to pass an examination in German. 
 
 Many schools arrange their course of instruction accord- 
 ing to the requirements of the London matriculation 
 examination. The certificates there obtained are a pass- 
 port to legal, medical, military, and other institutions, and 
 the degrees obtained in that university are held in high 
 
 * For the month of June of the present year there were appointed 
 besides the examination in London provincial examinations at Bir- 
 mingham, Liverpool, Manchester, TuUamore, Stonyhurst, and Ushaw.
 
 138 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 esteem on account of the generally acknowledged strict- 
 ness of the examinations. Degrees can be obtained in 
 Literature, Mathematics, the Natural Sciences, Medicine 
 and Law.* There are two examinations for the degree 
 of B.A., the first is only preliminary, and no one has 
 a right to the title of B.A. until he has passed a second 
 examination one year after the first. The candidates for 
 honours here as elsewhere have to pass a severer examina- 
 tion than the others. Ever since the year 18G7 women 
 also, after having attained the age of seventeen, are 
 admitted and examined separately. More than fifty insti- 
 tutions in the British empire are in connection with the 
 university. Preparations are now also made at Edin- 
 burgh for establishing a London University Institute of 
 Scotland, because many parochial schoolmasters wish to 
 qualify themselves for London degrees, principally because 
 they can obtain them in absentia, which is not the case in 
 Edinburgh. Upon the model of the London University 
 others have been established at Toronto in Canada, at 
 Melbourne and Sydney in Australia, and at Calcutta, 
 Bombay, and Madras in Lidia. 
 
 "With the exception of Durham, as already mentioned, 
 there are only three places in England proper where 
 examinations for degrees are held, viz., Oxford, Cambridge, 
 and London. In England it is thought that Germany 
 has too many such places, and that among them there is 
 too little agreement as to the principles according to 
 which degrees are conferred. This latter point cannot be 
 denied, if we compare the conditions on which the different 
 
 * TLe degrees obtainable in the University of London arc more 
 numerous than in the other universities ; they are B.A., M.A., Dr. Lit., 
 B. Sc, Dr. Sc., B.LL., Dr. LL., B.M., Dr. M., B.S., Dr. S.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 139 
 
 German universities grant the degree of Doctor in Philo- 
 sojihy and the distinction of a Doctor in Divinity. Yet 
 in England too there is a considerable difference in the 
 value of degrees and certificates, according to the different 
 places and institutions in which they are granted. A 
 man wishing to obtain the M.A. in London has to j^ass an 
 examination which is not easy, while at Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge the same degree is acquired without examination. 
 The old universities confer the degree of Doctor only 
 honoris causa, while in London it can be obtained only 
 by a stiff examination. In Scotland there is no B.A. 
 degree, and the M.A. can be obtained only after four years' 
 attendance at a University, or after three years, if the 
 candidate on entering has passed an examination in Latin 
 and Greek.* 
 
 In regard to the proceeding at the examinations, it 
 consists, with few exceptions, in laying printed questions 
 before the candidates ; an oral examination takes place 
 but rarely, and to a very limited extent in the modern 
 languages, as is the case also in the local examinations. 
 When the University or the College of Preceptors send 
 their visitors to schools, the examinations are also partially 
 conducted viva voce. In the instruction given to exa- 
 miners by the old universities, it is recommended to 
 address the questions, not to individual scholars, but to 
 larger groups. It is made known sometimes even two 
 years beforehand, from what works or parts of a Latin or 
 Greek author f the passages to be translated are to be 
 
 * Besides the M.A. degree and those in law and medicine there are 
 in Edinburgh also B. Sc. and Dr. Sc. ; and further B. Agr. and M. Agr. 
 (Agricultiire) and B. Sc. Mach. (Scientia Machinalis). 
 
 f Thus the London University made it known in July 1875, that at
 
 140 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 selected, or what play of Sliakspeare, what work of Bacon, 
 Miltou, and others, are expected to be examined upon. 
 Persons superintending the candidates while answering 
 the examination papers are appointed by the universities, 
 and the papers are then sent to the examiner who has 
 drawn up the questions, to be looked over by him and 
 valued. A fixed number of marks is assigned to the 
 correct answer of every question. The number of marks 
 obtained by all the candidates is sent in, and the candi- 
 date is then declared either to have passed or to have 
 been rejected, according to the number of his marks. 
 Several questions more or less difficult in the different 
 departments are always left to the option of the candidate 
 to answer. 
 
 I have had opportunities of perusing a large number of 
 papers with the answers of the candidates. The questions 
 in most cases seem to me to have been chosen and ex- 
 pressed with a thorough knowledge of the subject and 
 with educational discretion ; but I have certainly also seen 
 other questions from which it was at once evident that they 
 were not the work of practical teachers, but the results 
 of special studies which had led the examiners to forget 
 what should be expected from school-boys. Studies in 
 comparative philology, specially stimulated by Max Mtiller 
 at Oxford, are now pursued by many Englishmen ; but is 
 it reasonable to put to school-boys of fifteen or sixteen 
 years, as was done this summer, the following question : 
 " Illustrate the way in which the science of comparative 
 philology may be applied in the investigation of pre- 
 
 the first B.A. examination in 1877, passages of Latin would be taken 
 from Livy, Book IX., and from Horace's Epistles, and in Greek from 
 Xenophon's Cyrop., B. L
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 141 
 
 historic times?" I often observed a great discrepancy 
 between the texts selected for translation and the 
 grammatical questions connected with them.* But the 
 examiners evidently knew what they had to expect : 
 they had often been enabled to give high marks for 
 translations but not for grammatical answers ; from the 
 latter I had to draw the nndonbted inference that the 
 passage though correctly translated was sometimes not 
 understood. This may be explained if we consider what 
 different uses may be made of the early publication of 
 the authors selected. 
 
 In regard to the historical questions, I had expected to 
 find that in England instruction about the political con- 
 stitution was given in all the schools, and that, accordingly, 
 questions about it would be put in all the examinations ; 
 but this was not the case, and the questions almost 
 exclusively referred to facts, names, and dates. At the 
 local examinations, the seniors are generally also examined 
 in political economy ; every one that is at all educated is 
 expected to make himself acquainted at an early period 
 with such works as Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations;" 
 this arises from the national predilection for commerce 
 and legal questions. 
 
 The examiners are appointed at Oxford and Cambridge 
 by the colleges, by a committee, or by the syndics ; but 
 in the University of London by the senate. In Scotland 
 the teaching professors are at the same time examiners ; 
 but ever since 1858 others have been associated with 
 them as assistants. In London University College School, 
 the masters themselves examine their pupils, and their 
 
 * Instances of various kinds are put togellier in the Appendix, 
 No. lY.
 
 142 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 judgment is final. But this is a rare mode of proceeding. 
 It is a principle with the universities to have frequent 
 changes of examiners. Hence, and because of the large 
 numbers of examiners required, especially at Oxford and 
 Cambridge, in order to get through the excessive exami- 
 nation work, it sometimes happens that the business is 
 intrusted to inexperienced men. I have often heard com- 
 plaints about young tutors having been made examiners, 
 when it was suggested that the professors, the real repre- 
 sentatives of learning and science, ought to guide and 
 control the ' examinations of the two universities more 
 than is the case at present. 
 
 The present unusual extension of the system of exami- 
 nations in England is seen most strikingly in the competi- 
 tive examinations which were introduced about twenty 
 years ago, and which have to be gone through by all who 
 seek employment in the public service, in offices connected 
 with the Customs or the Revenue, the Post-office, the 
 Admiralty, &c. The cause of this innovation arose in 
 India. Many abuses had been observed there in the 
 manner in which appointments had been given by the 
 East India Company to relations, connections, friends, 
 &c., and in consequence of this an Act of Parliament was 
 passed in 1853, ordaining that thenceforth the right to 
 enter the Indian Civil Service should depend upon passing 
 an examination. The college at Haileybury, where until 
 then the candidates nominated by the company were pre- 
 pared for the service, was abolished, and a Commission, 
 headed by Lord Macaulay, drew up a general plan of 
 examination by which the appointments were to be de- 
 cided. According to this plan, young men between the 
 ages of eighteen and twenty-three (afterwards between
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 143 
 
 the ages of seventeen and twenty-one) were permitted to 
 present themselves for examination. They are now exa- 
 mined in the English language and history, in Latin, 
 Greek, French, German, Italian, pure and applied mathe- 
 matics, natural science, philosophy, Sanscrit, and Arabic. 
 Every candidate has to state in which of these subjects he 
 wishes to be examined, and those who have attained the 
 highest number of marks for their work are selected for 
 appointments. By good answers in English history and 
 law up to 1000 marks may be obtained, by the English 
 essay up to 500, by the work in Latin and Greek up to 
 750 each, by each of the natural sciences 500, by German, 
 French, Italian or Sanscrit 875 each.* 
 
 The selected candidates have then to prepare them- 
 selves for the Indian Service in any place they may 
 choose for two years, during which they have to pass 
 every six months examinations in a variety of subjects 
 before proceeding to India. In the first competitive 
 examination in 1855, out of one hundred and thirteen 
 candidates, only twenty were selected. 
 
 This innovation was at first very generally approved, 
 because it arose out of a reaction against patronage ; it 
 was thought that the examinations would be a guarantee 
 against appoiutments being given through family interest, 
 political partisanship, or personal favour, and it was hoped 
 that henceforth only acknowledged ability and merit 
 would determine the appointments. Confidence and the 
 bonds of friendship, it was said, are fine things, but the 
 
 * The admission to the Eoyal MiUtaiy Academy hkewise dej^ends 
 upon a competitive examination. Mathematics there has the highest 
 number of marks, viz., 4000. EugUsh, Latin, Greek, French and 
 German have each 2000.
 
 144 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 welfare of the state cannot be built upon them. Competi- 
 tion is useful everywhere ; the whole life of man is a race ; 
 and the new system of examinations will compel candidates 
 to cultivate those qualities which are indispensable to a 
 public servant : presence of mind in quickly seeing his 
 way, cool-headedness, precision in what he has to say, 
 and other things. Lord Palmerston also supported the 
 measure in this spirit, and from the mental exertion 
 rendered necessary by the preparation for the examina- 
 tion, he expected a lasting effect upon the officials 
 selected. The fact that greater stress was laid upon 
 general intellectual culture than upon professional pre- 
 paration was likewise approved of. The officials, it was 
 said, must take with them a good supply of it, because 
 in the distant parts of India they often remain for 
 months far from all intercourse with educated men ; and 
 it was frequently found that Englishmen, without any 
 real professional training but provided with a thorough 
 general culture, had filled public offices with distinction. 
 
 But opponents of the measure were not wanting 
 either ; they at once declared the principle to be false : 
 the things of highest importance, they said — a trust- 
 worthy character, resoluteness, sense of honour, common 
 sense and tact in the treatment of difficult circumstances 
 — cannot be discovered from written answers to scientific 
 questions. The saying that knowledge is power is true 
 enough, but it is a mistake to think that public virtues 
 also are implied in it ; and if the mere ability to 
 answer on paper questions from memory is to decide 
 an appointment, other efforts of the candidates to re- 
 commend themselves and to win confidence will cease. 
 The preparation with most men will aim at storing their
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 145 
 
 memory for a short time with a mass of facts, whereby 
 au injury is clone to their taste for scientific study and to 
 their mental strength, and that too at a time when these 
 qualities are in a state of development : English educa- 
 tion in general will be thereby injured and lowered. It is 
 not la earriere ouverie aux talents, but a struggle hetween 
 crammers. We wish for justice, which shall exclude every 
 personal consideration ; but as long as human hearts have 
 not the rigid regularity of a steam-engine, such rigorous 
 virtue exists only in the imagination. 
 
 When at last during the first years several mistakes 
 were made at the examinations, a thing which could not 
 be avoided, the malcontents expressed themselves still 
 more strongly. They could point to the unsuitableness 
 of several questions, such as, " What are the principal 
 merits and defects in Plato and Aristotle as philoso- 
 phers?" "What were the distinctive opinions of the Old, 
 the Middle, and the New Academy?" " What was the 
 condition of the life of the Athenian citizens in the time 
 of Pericles, and at Kome in the time of Augustus?" Such 
 questions were to be answered by young people, who, 
 perhaps, for a long time to come could look to nothing but 
 a moderately paid office of clerk, or had the prospect of 
 being obliged for years to perform the petty services in a 
 custom-house or a post-office. To this was added the fact 
 that many of those who had been examined proved in- 
 efficient officers, especially as a new kind of industry 
 speedily sprang up professing to prepare young people in 
 a short time for these examinations.* In consequence of 
 this art of cramming, it happened for example that a young 
 
 * The slang expression is to " coach" caudidates for the Indian Civil 
 Service. 
 
 T.
 
 146 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 inau by his apparent knowledge of some speciality gained 
 prizes, and on tlie first occasion, when great expectations 
 were entertained of him in regard to that very speciality, 
 he was found to be the greatest ignoramus. Even the 
 advocates of the measure could not assert that the quality 
 of the public servants as such had become better since 
 the introduction of the competitive examinations. 
 
 The applications of those who had attended a university 
 became fewer from year to year ; they were unwilling 
 to submit, with a number of others, to an examina- 
 tion in which the thorough study of a few subjects and 
 the development of character were of no avail. The 
 present government, therefore, has begun to encourage 
 the attendance at a university, by offering scholarships 
 to those aspiring to a position in the public service. 
 You may form a conception of the extent of work which' 
 the Civil Service Commissioners have to go through, 
 when I tell you that in the eighteen months from 
 July, 1872, till December, 1873, they had to deal with 
 23,261 applicants, and besides this, with 643 candidates 
 for India. 
 
 It is not to be expected that this arrangement will 
 soon be given up, although its insufficiency has been 
 clearly proved, and although those also have become more 
 sober-minded who formerly saw in it the safety of the 
 state. Many acquiesce in the supposed necessity, and 
 think, as Mr. Gladstone expressed himself in a speech 
 delivered in 1861, that a free devotion to study from a 
 love of the subject is no doubt nobler and better, but 
 that we must accommodate ourselves to given circum- 
 stances, that for the En-jlaiid of the nineteenth century 
 examinations are the best means of education, and that
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 147 
 
 it is the period of examinations just as it is the period 
 of free trade, of railroads, and of steam-engines. 
 
 The military department to which competitive exami- 
 nations have likewise been extended, shows more distinctly 
 that it is a great mistake to regard the knowledge dis- 
 played at a written examination as the qualification for a 
 special calling. In Germany we make a much greater 
 distinction between these things. While in England the 
 degree acquired in a university suffices to prove the 
 qualification for the office of teacher, with us the 
 conferring the degree of doctor exempts neither the 
 teacher, nor the physician, nor the lawyer from the 
 special official examination. There must of course be 
 examinations, and although Mr. Aug. Eeichensperger 
 may, perhaps, be right in saying that all the great 
 architects of the middle ages would be plucked in a 
 modern examination of architects, we cannot on that 
 account declare the examination of architects to be un- 
 necessary. But here, as elsewhere, everything depends 
 upon the right arrangement of the examinations, and 
 upon estimating them at their real value. 
 
 By far the greatel part of the examinations in England 
 are conducted in writing. It is the general opinion there 
 that only that can be regarded as real knowledge which 
 a person can write down briefly, clearly, and concisely. 
 But this is only half true, and does not justify its almost 
 exclusive application to the young. A proper oral exami- 
 nation can discover much more easily than a written one 
 that which has been acquired only by cramming without 
 having been properly digested and having thereby be- 
 come a real mental possession ; a' written answer may 
 have to be regarded as erroneous, but in an oral examina- 
 
 L 2
 
 14S GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 tion aflordiug tlie candidate an opportunity of explaining 
 himself more fully, it may be found to be tbe result of 
 praiseworthy reflection. 
 
 Too little distinction, moreover, is made between what 
 is good for the school and the boy, and what can be 
 expected from a more mature age. In the case of an 
 adult we may expect his knowledge to have reached a 
 certain completeness ; we may ask him such things as 
 must be attained under all circumstances : in the case of 
 school-boys, on the other hand, it is of much more im- 
 portance to see lioiv they have learnt, whether they know 
 how to be attentive and to understand a subject correctly, 
 and whether their mental powers in general are in a state 
 of proper development. In like manner we cannot ap- 
 prove of the fact that in England, in all these examina- 
 tions, the added-up number of marks should determine 
 the fate of candidates : the living man is not an arith- 
 metical problem. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the examinations of schools 
 and scholars instituted by the universities and the College 
 of Preceptors have produced a good effect on many an 
 institution, that they have increased the eagerness to 
 learn, and have set in motion the stagnating waters, 
 more especially by publishing the results of the exami- 
 nations, because an institution which carries through none 
 or only a few scholars loses confidence with the public. 
 15ut the public in this case may be greatly deceived; 
 and we in Germany consider this very stimulus unsuited 
 for the teachers as well as for the pupils, and we do not 
 wish to see the quiet course of instruction disturbed in 
 the manner in which it is done in England. We regard 
 the school as too good a thing for such a purpose ; it has
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 149 
 
 higher aims than those of a " racing stable," as some one 
 in England expressed himself in speaking of its schools. 
 It not unfrequently happens that boys of no more than 
 fourteen years, who have over-exerted themselves in order 
 to gain a scholarship, afterwards, especially if they have 
 not succeeded in the race and have not gained a prize, 
 are for a long time exhausted, incapable, and unwilling 
 to work. We, too, have scholarships in many of our 
 schools, and know that they may be a great blessing ; 
 but they are given according to the judgment of the 
 teachers to pupils who need them and have recommended 
 themselves by their diligence, their progress, and their 
 good conduct. In England I have heard some teachers 
 complain of " the scholarship-hunting fever " among their 
 pupils ;* and the same is continued at the university, 
 which is to many only " a goose that lays golden eggs, 
 and their object is to get as many of them as they can." 
 The golden eggs are the exhibitions and fellowships. It 
 is the opinion of English university professors that the 
 method of preparing for the examinations inflicts only 
 too often an irreparable injury, and destroys all freedom 
 in the pursuit of learning and science ; nothing is studied 
 from a love of the subject, but only as a means of gaining 
 a high number of marks at the examinations : what a 
 difi'erent picture would these young men present, if, un- 
 fettered by such anxiety, they could with freedom look 
 around them and strive onwards, " without fancying an 
 examiner in every bush." 
 
 It is further felt by head-masters and teachers to be a 
 
 * " We must all have felt," said one of them, " that it is a growing 
 danger that bo^^s should be led to consider the reward rather than the 
 sheer love of learning."
 
 150 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 great inconvenience that they have to occupy themselves 
 principally with those pupils who intend to go np for 
 examination, and that these hoys, when the examination 
 is held in a distant town, have to be sent for several days 
 to a strange place ; further, that the universities and the 
 College of Preceptors choose such different text hooks, 
 whence there arises for the teachers the trouble of pre- 
 paring all for their diflferent authors, as some pupils go to 
 one place and others to another to be examined. All 
 this and the frequent interruptions in the regular course 
 of instruction for the sake of the examinations, produce 
 far more injurious disturbances in what are the real 
 objects of the school than we have to bear and compensate 
 for in the arrangements of our higher schools. In our 
 whole system of examining a school we pay more attention 
 to its real object ; we hold the examinations, as is natural, 
 in the schools themselves, and do not hand over our boys 
 to be examined by outsiders who do not know them, and 
 from whom, according to the nature of the arrangement, 
 they can receive no information in that in which they are 
 wanting ; we examine, moreover, much less frequently, and 
 attach greater value to oral examinations, because they 
 afford greater opportunities of becoming acquainted with 
 the whole man ; nor do we isolate the examinations in 
 the manner in which it is done in England, and we even 
 regard the leaving examination {Ahiturienten-Pintfung) only 
 as the completion of the preceding course of instruction, 
 and by no means as deciding the ability of a young man 
 to enter a university. 
 
 Examinations and prizes are looked upon in England 
 as the most effective means of producing the desired effect ; 
 other means are either unknown, or are not attempted.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 151 
 
 The administrations of German schools are more con- 
 cerned about securing the right way to the goal, and 
 about seeing it rightly followed. The number of candi- 
 dates for the leaving examination who have privately 
 prepared themselves, is comparatively very small. In 
 England attention is almost exclusively directed to the 
 demonstrable final result. From time to time something 
 like an alarum bell sounds throughout the country : 
 Come and be examined ! And they come, boys and girls, 
 young and old, having crammed into themselves as much 
 knowledge as they could. How they have acquired what 
 they know is never asked, nor are they shown what is the 
 best method ; and yet what work could after all be more 
 worthy of a university than to point this out ? Eesults ! 
 results ! this is characteristic of England, and best ex- 
 plains the present high value set upon examinations in 
 schools and universities. 
 
 The apparent grandeur and vastness of this system of 
 examination, according to which the same set of printed 
 papers distributed over England and sent all over the 
 world, to Canada, the Mauritius, &c., has nothing im- 
 posing for us. Where is the diflerence between this and 
 the mechanical centralisation of the French, which enabled 
 the Minister of Instruction at Paris, on looking at his 
 watch, to tell a stranger what chapter of Csesar was 
 read at that hour in all the Lycees of France ? We 
 consider it a great and unnecessary trouble to print such 
 simple elementary questions, as many of them must 
 needs be, from grammar, geography, biblical history, 
 &c., and to send them over the wide world. The English 
 have transplanted the same system of examination into 
 India also. A young Hindoo of Calcutta, who was for a
 
 152 GEEMAN LETTERS 
 
 long time my travelling companion, greatly disapproved 
 of it, saying that in their schools they were only nrged 
 on by their English teachers to get ready for examina- 
 tion, and that therefore they were obliged to stuff their 
 memory with a mass of unconnected facts which were 
 often only half understood, a process in which it was 
 impossible to cultivate independent thought. 
 
 It is strange that Englishmen who attach so much 
 importance to the free development of individual character 
 do not see that this excess of examination is in direct 
 opposition to it. Germans, too, who have settled in 
 England soon become acclimatised in this respect ; some 
 German fathers and mothers expressed to me their satis- 
 faction not with the excellent manner in which their 
 children's intellects were developed, but with the many 
 examinations which their sons and daughters had already 
 passed, and with the prizes they had carried off. 
 
 However we also meet with men who are convinced 
 that after all examinations are not the main thing. An 
 Eui^lish scholar, who himself had long acted as an 
 examiner, owned that it was a great mistake to believe 
 that the place of an efficient organisation could be 
 supplied by examinations ; he declared that, according to 
 his own experience, this kind of examinations was by no 
 means a guarantee for the real existence of that degree 
 of culture which they were intended to discover; that 
 bold and resolute natures with a good memory often 
 gained the victory over those who went to work more 
 calmly and with more deliberation and better judgment. 
 " Few of our great men," said he, "who have distinguished 
 themselves by originality of mind or by their strength 
 and independence of character and have done good service
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 153 
 
 to the nation, had obtained honours at the universities. 
 But unfortunately in the matter of examination we have 
 taken China for our model." 
 
 I have no doubt that English teachers also will become 
 more and more convinced that the present state of affairs 
 in this respect is not a healthy one,* and that perhaps 
 they will soon come to see which is the greater evil, to be 
 subject to a school administration or to be the slaves of 
 examinations outside the school, with which the quiet and 
 successful work of the school is incompatible. 
 
 LETTEK XI. 
 
 A Glance at tlie Working of the Schools— Plan of Instruction— 
 National Games and Physical Exercises — The Ancient Languages 
 and Practical Subjects (realia) — Instruction in Natural Science 
 — Terence and Plautus in Schools — The Pronunciation of 
 Latin— French and German— The English Language, History, 
 Geography, Gymnastics. 
 
 ScarhoroKfjIi. 
 
 After having thus far discussed the general relations 
 of the schools, it is time also to cast a glance at their 
 working. 
 
 I have already mentioned their different kinds and 
 designations. The names also of the classes in institutions 
 
 * That this conviction has been already gained by some is iDroved 
 by expressions like the fuUowing: "If we go on long as we are now 
 doing we shall utterly deteriorate the education of our youth and 
 impair the national character." — " The mania for examinations has 
 been pushed to its furthest limits."—" We are in danger of confounding 
 the faculty for swallowing with the faculty fur digesting." — " A system 
 whereby the teachers of the country are converted into 'coaches' is,
 
 154 ger:\iax letters 
 
 of the same kind are different : class, form, division, 
 book, school ; subdivisions also have their special names, 
 such as shell, remove, &c. In the London Bluecoat 
 School the names of the classes are the Little and the Grreat 
 Erasmus, the Grecians, and Deputy Grecians. In the 
 Koman Catholic Institutions the old designations of the 
 Jesuit schools reappear: poetry, rhetoric, philosophy. 
 Such inequalities would be of little consequence if in the 
 internal arrangements there were more agreement, so as 
 to render it possible for a pupil to pass from one institu- 
 tion to another of the same category without essentially 
 interrupting his previous course. This is the case in 
 Germany, but in England no one institution resembles 
 another either in its internal or external arrangements. 
 
 In Germany there are regulations respecting the age 
 of admission and respecting the amount of knowledge re- 
 quisite for it, and leaving examinations are conducted ac- 
 cording to a uniform standard. In England an admission 
 examination has recently been established for the endowed 
 schools ; and as there is no leaving examination, the 
 pupils may be compelled to leave school as soon as they 
 have attained a certain age, which is pretty generally the 
 case in the public schools, when at the age of eighteen 
 they are not yet in the highest form. There is no fixed 
 number of boys allowed to attend a school or a form. It 
 depends upon the pleasure of the governing body or the 
 
 by its very nature, hostile to the true conception of education." — " No 
 school which converts itself into a coaching establishment is a place 
 of education in the proper sense of the term. There is a repose, a 
 calm, a stability in the steady march of all sound education, which is 
 alien to the feverish sinrit that animates the antechamber of an exami- 
 nation room."
 
 ox ENGLISH EDUCATION. 155 
 
 head-master to fix the limit of admissions to endowed 
 schools. 
 
 Pupils are mostly promoted into higher forms either 
 hecause it is thought that they have made satisfactory 
 progress or hecause the progress is attested hy an examina- 
 tion, and then, either as with us in Grermany, according to 
 their general state of knowledge, or according to special de- 
 partments ; in some institutions the time spent in a form is 
 alone sufiicient. In Scotland it is still customary to admit 
 pupils without examination, and in like manner all the 
 pupils of one form, mostly with the same master, have a 
 rise after a fixed time. In the Edinburgh Academy, for 
 example, every one may pass in seven years through the 
 seven classes, while at the Edinburgh High School an 
 attempt is at present made to promote pupils only 
 according to their progress. 
 
 A common 2)lan of instruction f 01- the difi'erent categories 
 of higher schools does not exist in England. While we 
 in Germany have constructed a plan out of the idea of the 
 school, and have gradually developed it, the English, 
 clinging to the classiccal principle in their public schools, 
 are guided in everything else by ancient custom, and any 
 necessity that may present itself, but at present more 
 especially by the requirements of the examinations which 
 are conducted in schools by the universities; here, of 
 course, the competition for scholarships, honours, prizes, 
 &c., have likewise their effect. The English course of 
 instruction, in comparison with former times, has been 
 enlarged, but in the public schools it is still much more 
 simple, and limited to a smaller number of obligatory 
 subjects than in Germany. The so-called harmonious 
 culture which has sometimes been considered as the
 
 156 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 necessary product of the idea of a German gymnasium, 
 and in which it is intended that no talent shall be left 
 uncultivated, may demand a multiplicity of subjects which 
 an Englishman would regard as overcrowding and con- 
 fusion, rather than harmony. He does not dread the 
 reproach of onesidedness, because it may be a sign of 
 strength. Our late friend, the archaeologist, Ed. Gerhard, 
 when he was in the highest class of the gymnasium at 
 Breslau, delivered a speech " On the ignorance becoming 
 to a youth." This is quite an English theme. 
 
 The hours of instruction per week is in most institu- 
 tions smaller than with us, and their succession is often 
 interrupted by pauses or play hours. In many schools 
 there is no instruction on Saturdays. They nowhere 
 begin before 9 o'clock, and in day schools generally 
 even later ; with an interval for refreshment, which is 
 usually provided in the school-house itself, the lessons 
 usually last till three o'clock. I have heard no complaints 
 about overburdening pupils with school work. In the 
 lower forms it is reckoned that the pupils, on an average, 
 devote daily one hour to preparation at home, and even in 
 the highest forms not more than two. 
 
 In the public schools, and in many others similarly 
 constituted, the traditional conception of the object of 
 education does not allow learning to be the main thing. 
 A large portion of the day is devoted to the national 
 games and bodily exercises. In one institution I found 
 the morning hours set apart for them, whereas some less 
 favourable hours were given to intellectual work. The 
 head-master justified the arrangement by pointing to the 
 greater importance of these exercises, adding that he was 
 satisfied if only two out of ten pupils learnt something
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 157 
 
 substantial, provided the rest were zealous at cricket 
 and tlieir games at ball. The effects of an invigorating 
 physical education has always been highly valued in 
 England. Even Eoger Ascham, who taught Queen 
 Elizabeth Greek, demands in his ' Scholemaster ' in true 
 Hellenic fashion that a well-trained mind must dwell in a 
 well-trained body. At present many schools cannot do 
 enough in such exercises as cricket, football, fives, 
 racket, running, fencing and broadsword exercises, and 
 besides athletics, swimming, and other aquatic exercises. 
 At present military drill also has been introduced into 
 several schools, and the pupils of the upper classes are 
 permitted to form volunteer corps among themselves, 
 and to take part in the public shooting matches. When 
 several schools have formed an inter-scholastic rifle- 
 shooting competition, a beautifully-wrought shield is 
 always handed over to that school which has had the best 
 marksman, and remains in its possession until the next 
 competition. I have seen such a shield at Harrow. At 
 Oxford and Cambridge athletic sports are carried on on 
 a still larger and grander scale; each of them boasts of 
 having the best jumper with the pole, or the best 
 thrower, &c., and the rowing matches of the students 
 have become a great national amusement. They are 
 compared to the Olympian games of the Greeks, and the 
 newspapers report them (as also the cricket matches, for 
 example between Eton and Harrow) as a national affair 
 in which all are interested. If we add to these the 
 numerous societies among the pupils for music, for de- 
 bating, reading, &c., we at once perceive that in such 
 institutions the time for real learning must be dispro- 
 portionately narrowed and limited, and that those who
 
 158 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 find fault with the old scliools are not altogetlier wrong 
 in saying " the mania of muscnlarity has its share in 
 the hunger-bitten poverty of the intellectual results." 
 
 In the middle-class schools established in recent times 
 the case is different ; their bill-of-fare is richer, the usual 
 hours of instruction are more numerous ; 2)upils are ex- 
 pected to work hard and to learn much. These institutions 
 were established in accordance with the wishes of the 
 great public in opposition to the old grammar schools, 
 whose course of instruction was thought too narrow and 
 antiquated, and too sterile for a scientific age, in which 
 the natural sciences had made such progress. 
 
 In England, as well as in Germany, there has been 
 much discussion and dispute in recent times about the two- 
 fold character of the higher education, and as to which 
 of the two ways (we in Germany should say that of the 
 Gymnasia or of Bealschulen) deserves to be preferred. 
 
 The predominant feeling at present is unmistakably 
 more favourable to the modern means of education. A 
 pretty widely-spread dissatisfaction with the results 
 obtained in the old schools, at a time when natural 
 science is pursued with brilliant success, and when 
 the spirit of the nation is mainly directed to what is 
 practically useful, has made the name of Lord Bacon, the 
 founder of methodical realism, to many the symbol of 
 what now should be aimed at in the higher scliools. 
 
 In regard to Bacon himself, the English as well as 
 the Germans differ in their opinions. Without agree- 
 ing with the depreciating criticism of Liebig upon him, 
 we cannot with Macaulay deny all connection between 
 the moral worth of a man and his scientific work. In 
 England people gladly turn away from this whole
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 159 
 
 question, in order not to be disturbed in the intellectual 
 enjoyment whicli his writings so abundantly afford. His 
 ' Essays ' are much studied even in schools ; they are 
 regarded as one of the standard books of ' English ' 
 culture ; at a later period his Augmeiita Scieniianuii and 
 his Novum Organon are specially studied. The fact that 
 he always saw the Universal in the Individual, and 
 recommended the method of induction, not only for 
 natural science, but for all knowledge, completely cor- 
 responds with the English mode of thought. It is owing 
 to him therefore that the study of the natural sciences 
 has found enthusiastic eulogists, and that their neglect in 
 most schools has been severely censured.* 
 
 However, all do not by any means go so far as to make 
 the value of knowledge dependent on the practical 
 advantages of its results. Most persons are in favour 
 of due regard being paid in the higher schools to the 
 sciences and realistic studies in general ; but when both 
 Classics and Sciences have a place in them, and a 
 )reference has to be given to one of the two, it will 
 be found that many intelligent men will still decide in 
 favour of the Classics. Even the School Inquiry Com- 
 mission of 1864 maintained that the study of language 
 was a better means of mental training than the sciences ; 
 that man has most to do with man, and that one of the 
 
 * To give but one example out of many : " lu this progressive 
 country, we neglect all that knowledge in which there is progress, to 
 devote ourselves to those branches in which we are scarcely, if at all, 
 superior to our ancestors. In this practical country, the knowledge of 
 all that gives power over nature is left to be picked up by chance on a 
 man's way through life. In this religious country the knowledge of 
 God's works form no part of the education of the people— no part even 
 of the accomplishments of a gentleman."
 
 160 GERMAN LETTEES 
 
 most important objects in the education of the young is to 
 learn to understand the thoughts of others. Persons who 
 take the same view maintain that mathematics, physics, 
 &c., cultivate the intellect, but that the study of language 
 and literature is a training for the mind, the heart, and 
 the sentiments as well as for the mind, and therefore enrich 
 the mind more deeply. Further, they say that proper 
 instruction in language teaches boys to think ; that the 
 exercise of observing, of comparing, and drawing inductive 
 inferences will proceed more easily and safely upon such 
 a foundation. The other party replies that this would be 
 all very well and good if only the result of the instruction 
 in the ancient languages corresponded with this view ; 
 that the number of pupils who accomplish anything 
 satisfactorily in it is extremely small, and that the way 
 in which they are taught has become so mechanical, that 
 the boys are not accustomed to any methodical mode of 
 procedure or of thought. Further, that a real, visible and 
 tangible subject — such as natural objects — would be more 
 appropriate, that there would in this case be less scope 
 for subjective conjectures, and the pupil would thereby 
 early learn the force of unalterable laws ; and that more- 
 over he would thus at last get rid of books ; that the 
 phenomenon itself, the experiment, the demonstration is 
 the main thing. The opposite party do not neglect to 
 point to tlie fact that all this is too external for young 
 persons, especially as the study of nature is as yet too 
 little of a science, and is still in a state of perpetual 
 change. 
 
 An agreement between such opposite views was out of the 
 question ; and thus, as always happens in such cases, a 
 compromise was the only thing that remained, and this was
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 161 
 
 recommended, among others also, by J. Stuart Mill. The 
 public and grammar schools have been constituted accord- 
 ingly : in addition to devoting in most cases a greater 
 number of hours to the study of history and mathe- 
 matics, physics, natural history, and modern languages 
 have been admitted into the plan of study, although they 
 are not in all cases regarded as obligatory; frequently 
 dispensation is granted, especially from Greek, if a pupil 
 prefers to pay more attention " to modern subjects." 
 In several such institutions these have to be paid for as 
 extras. 
 
 If it be admitted that the training power of languages 
 is greater than that of the sciences, then a further 
 question arises as to whether it is greater in the case of 
 the ancient or of the modern languages, and which of the 
 two ought to be first taught in schools. It was only 
 very rarely that I met with the idea that the English 
 language itself, properly treated, could supply the place of, 
 or be preferred to, the ancient languages for the develop- 
 ment of the sense of language ; in Grermany it is prett j 
 generally the opinion that a foreign language is more 
 adapted for this purpose. Further, the mother tongue, it 
 is said, does not stand at the requisite objective distance, 
 and in addition to this the English language, on account 
 of its composite character and its poverty in grammatical 
 forms, requires to be compared with languages of a higher 
 formal development, as is especially the case with Latin, 
 on which account that language ought now, as formerly, 
 to form the foundation of the study of language in the 
 higher schools. 
 
 In opposition to this, I have heard teachers maintain 
 that it was unnatural to introduce a boy into the ancient- 
 
 m:
 
 162 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 languages, "vvith their historical and religious or strange 
 mythological circle of ideas, before he is so far advanced 
 in his mother tongue as to be able to think and to express 
 himself orally and in writing with accuracy. Others 
 maintain this objection to be unfounded except in the case 
 of a subject chosen inappropriately and of an inappropriate 
 mode of procedure ; they say that this has surely been 
 shown by the experience of centuries ; and they ask at 
 what age that foundation in the mother tongue could be 
 looked upon as actually attained ? I have nowhere heard 
 it recommended to begin the study of language either 
 with French or German. 
 
 In the majority of the older higher schools the ancient 
 languages have thus remained the basis of instruction. 
 But for them, too, times have changed. At present classical 
 philology in Germany takes for its object the critical and 
 historical treatment of the authors and the comparison of 
 languages. The reaction of this upon schools is very 
 marked : the power of speaking and writing Latin is 
 disappearing more and more, and the difficulty of teachers 
 to induce their pupils to write Latin, e.g. in Latin 
 essays, is becoming greater and greater. In England this 
 is the case in a still higher degree. And as the course of 
 instruction there has neither a definitely fixed object nor 
 ii conclusion in a final examination, the inconvenience 
 which we have to complain of in our Gymnasia and 
 Realschulen is still greater with them than with us, 
 inasmuch as many pupils do not pass through the whole 
 course, but break ofi" arbitrarily after the first beginnings, 
 or in the middle of the course. We may assume that on 
 the whole no more than one-third of the pupils of a public 
 school pass on to a university, and the number of those who 
 
 I
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 163 
 
 do so after having gone through the highest forms is still 
 smaller. Nevertheless in England, as in the Gymnasia 
 of Germany, the idea is that the real problem of such 
 schools is to prepare pupils for the universities, A 
 definite standpoint is thus gained, which would not be 
 the case if they were only intended in general to afford a 
 higher education. It is true the School Inquiry Com- 
 missioners rarely found more than a moderate knowledge 
 of Latin, and a still smaller knowledge of Greek grammar, 
 iji the case of young people who left school at the age of 
 sixteen, as was generally the case (average lads). They 
 report : " He can read Cffisar easily, and Horace or Virgil 
 with the help of a dictionary ; he can also construe the 
 easier parts of the Greek Testament." That was all. 
 The extension of the course of instruction has caused 
 many changes, which enables those also who do not 
 intend to proceed to a university to attend the same 
 schools with greater advantage than before. 
 
 Some time has been gained in most public schools for 
 other subjects by limiting the hours given to making Latin 
 and Greek verses. The attacks made by different parties 
 upon the importance attached to such exercises at school 
 {e.g. F. W. Farrar's ' Essay on Greek and Latin Verse- 
 composition ') have not been ineffectual, and such exercises 
 are now recommended rather than demanded. 
 
 No one who has experience as a teacher, and thoroughly 
 knows the difference in the grammars of the two ancient 
 languages, is likely to support a proposal which is some- 
 times made, to begin the study of Greek before that of 
 Latin, although Hellenic antiquity in many respects pre- 
 sents things in a manner more attractive to a child's mind. 
 Eoman literature in general is more sympathetic to 
 
 M 2
 
 164 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 Englishmen than Greek, although individual scholars may 
 have devoted themselves with greater zeal and with more 
 brilliant success to the study of the Greek language. They 
 know how to value the fact that the Latin classics have 
 greater influence upon the formation of character, while 
 the Greek writers are more calculated to develope the 
 sense of the beautiful ; and aesthetic culture in general is 
 to Englishmen too vague an idea ; no special attention is 
 paid to it in their schools. The number of classics read 
 in the public schools is much greater than in Germany. 
 The traditional rule there comprises, among others, also the 
 Greek Bucolics, ^schylus, Aristophanes, the Koman 
 triumviri amoris, Lucretius, Terence, Plautus, and Juvenal, 
 which we certainly exclude from our class rooms. It is 
 true, boys and Grotius read Terence in a different way ; 
 but this distinction between a first rather superficial 
 and a more profound understanding may hold good in 
 the case of this author, but certainly not in the case of 
 the others I have named ; nor are they suited to be read 
 with pupils only in a fragmentary way. In the case of 
 most of them moral considerations also ought not to be 
 disregarded. Public educational controversies on this 
 subject are called forth in England almost every year on 
 the speech days of the great public schools, when among 
 others even scenes from Terence's ' Eunuchus ' are acted. 
 The question is whether our age should still bear this. 
 
 At a time of the most profound agitation of his soul, 
 Luther, on proceeding to the monastery at Erfurt, took 
 with him the comedies of Plautus, just as Bishop Chry- 
 eiostom was specially fond of reading Aristophanes; 
 Luther's friend, the Chancellor liriick, called Terence, next 
 to the catechism, the best reading for youths ; and towards
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 165 
 
 the end of the sixteenth century, Isaac Casaubon exhorted 
 his son who attended the gymnasinm at Sedan, in a letter 
 from Enghxnd, to say his daily prayers and to learn 
 Terence by heart. It is sufficient to remind the reader of 
 the Convent of Gandersheim to prove that Plautus and 
 Terence were read even in nunneries. Those times still 
 stood in a naive relation to antiquity, in a manner similar 
 to that with which Dante interweaves ancient mythology 
 with the profoundly Christian character of his great poem. 
 I do not believe that the object of these men was to recon- 
 cile Christianity with the spirit of the ancient classics, 
 although neither Luther nor Melanchthon undervalued 
 the moral truths of the ancients ; they knew how to value 
 the keen observations of life met with in ancient writers, 
 although the Christian's faith contains a deeper foundation 
 of morality. Both recommended Plautus and Terence not 
 only, as might be supposed, on account of their language, 
 but on account of the ethical advantage, and at the same 
 time as a relaxatio animi, as they call it. 
 
 This naivete is gone. In a biography of the poet 
 Southey a story is told of an old lady who in a company 
 of gentlemen inquired about a novel which in her youth 
 she had read with pleasure. A gentleman rei)lied that he 
 would not take upon himself to give her the book to read. 
 She looked at it again, and confessed that she could not 
 comprehend how she could have read that book before 
 without her feelings having been shocked : forty years had 
 produced a complete change in her moral perceptions. 
 Had the world on that account become more moral ? But 
 we have got beyond the age of naive and harmless down- 
 rightness. Who would now undertake the responsibility 
 of reading in class the Latin comic writers and certain
 
 166 GEKMAN LETTERS 
 
 satires of Horace, even tliough he may credit himself with 
 pedagogic discretion ? Many in England are of the same 
 opinion. The opposite view which declares pedagogic 
 caution to be unnecessary in the reading of books is main- 
 tained among others by Lord Macaulay, who discusses the 
 question in one of his Essays. The result he arrives at is 
 in reality that the English principle, " boys and youths 
 must take their risk," is to be applied to the domain of 
 morality. Others of the same mind say : " Boys read 
 such things without thinking much about them, these 
 things do not cling to them."* Few German parents and 
 teachers would be inclined to incur such a risk. 
 
 At present a change is taking place in the pronunciation 
 of Latin and Greek in the English schools ; the impulse, if 
 I am not mistaken, proceeded from Oxford; one of the head- 
 masters' conferences also has been occupied with the same 
 question. The plan is no longer to pronounce the ancient 
 languages like English, but on the whole in the same 
 manner in which we do in Germany. This I found to be 
 the case, e.g. in University College, in King's College, and 
 in the upper forms of the Bluecoat School in London. 
 But they pronounced the Latin c like /;, hence Ul:ero, 
 skilliket. In Mill Hill School, where the old pronuncia- 
 tion is still maintained, I requested the head-master, 
 during one of his lessons which I attended, to allow 
 me to speak to the boys of the highest form in Latin 
 with our German pronunciation, in order to see whether 
 they would easily understand me. He readily gave me 
 permission, the boys eagerly listened to my words, and 
 immediately translated into English with accuracy every 
 
 * " Boys throw off the .^lack morality of Latin comedy as a water- 
 proof does rain."
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. lfJ7 
 
 sentence I spoke. Our conversation lasted about a quarter 
 of an hour and seemed to give much pleasure to the boys. 
 The innovation is still attacked in many quarters. In 
 a debating society of young people at which I was pre- 
 sent, the question was discussed with great zeal on both 
 sides. One of them raised the not unimportant consider- 
 ation that as the English language contained so many 
 Latin words, it would be a strange thing to pronounce the 
 same word in a Latin author differently from the manner 
 in which it was pronounced in ordinary life. A lively 
 defender of the new pronunciation exclaimed with comical 
 zeal : " Do you believe that the Eomans would have con- 
 quered the world, if Caesar's famous despatch had been 
 pronounced as we do Veenei, veidei, veicei ?" Milton in 
 his work on education has said that Latin as pronounced 
 by his countrymen was no longer Latin at all, that owing 
 to the cold air of the north they did not sufficiently open 
 their mouths, and that boys at school ought to be ac- 
 customed to pronounce the vowels in the same manner 
 as the Italians. A beginning has now been made in this 
 direction. 
 
 Hebrew is generally not a subject of instruction in 
 English public schools, nor is a knowledge of it demanded 
 by all the bishops in examining candidates. I found it in 
 the curriculum of the Merchant Taylors' School in London. 
 The head-masters' conference of 1874 spoke in favour 
 of its being admitted into the general plan of the public 
 schools. 
 
 The necessity of learning modern languages in early 
 youth is generally recognised. On a speech day the chair- 
 man, among other things, said that the ancient languages 
 and their literature were like a beautiful lake with a
 
 16S GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 smooth surface, but that the modern Languages were like 
 a river, connected indeed with the lake, but receiving 
 tributaries from all sides and rolling along in rapid move- 
 ments. We live, said he, no longer on the lake, but on the 
 banks of this river, and allow ourselves to be borne by it, 
 and must know how to sail upon it, if we do not wish to 
 be cut oft* from intercourse with our neighbours. But it 
 is another question whether a sufficient knowledge of 
 modern languages can be acquired in the public schools. 
 It is generally believed in England that this is not the 
 case, and people are rather convinced that they can be 
 best acquired in actual intercourse with foreign countries ; 
 hence they are rarely studied at school with real diligence, 
 and many parents who can aff"ord it send their sons and 
 daughters for one or two years to France or Germany. 
 
 The French language is studied with far greater interest 
 than the German ; in many schools it is now an obligatory 
 subject of instruction, which distinction German has 
 acquired recently only in a very few modern schools ; 
 it is taught, however, as an optional subject in most other 
 schools. Much may be said in support of this different 
 .estimation of the two languages, e.g., that in the general 
 intercourse of the world, and in political transactions, 
 the French language traditionally plays a more import- 
 ant part than the German, and further, that it is more 
 easy to learn it. But it cannot be denied, and modern 
 history shows it distinctly, that on the whole English- 
 men are more drawn towards France than towards 
 Germany. A feeling for Germany based upon a common 
 origin does not exist ; the historical connection of the two 
 nations belongs to a time long since past ; and whenever 
 stress is laid upon it, it is, with very few exceptions, done
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 169 
 
 by us in Germany, We have risen in their estimation, 
 but our friends they are not ; and several indications 
 and expressions do not allow me to suppose (again 
 with rare exceptions) that they accompany the recent 
 development of Germany with their good wishes. It is 
 only quite lately that one of the most esteemed English 
 weekly journals declared that the Germans cannot be 
 compared at all in mental culture with the English or 
 the French, and that, too, on account of — the older 
 " civilisation " of the latter ! 
 
 There are not many Englishmen who rightly understand 
 the significance of the German people in the European 
 family of nations ; a feeling of national superiority prevents 
 them, and equally prevents their taking an interest in 
 our history. But this has never disturbed the pleasure 
 I felt, when 1 observed how much broader and deeper 
 than the historical connection with France, the old Saxon, 
 that is, the German foundation is not only in the political 
 and communal life of the English, but in their language, 
 and in many institutions of their public and private life. 
 Several features of the country still remind us of Tacitus' 
 ' Germania ' ; thus, for example, when during my wander- 
 ings through Epping forest with its wide spaces covered 
 with broom— the historical 2^^<^^nta genista — I observed 
 the country houses scattered and isolated in the wood, 
 just like the scattered farms in my native country of 
 Westphalia, that is Lower Saxony, the words of Tacitus 
 occurred to my mind : " Colunt discreti ac diversi, ut fons, 
 ut campus, ut nemus placuit." 
 
 x\mong the modern languages, English itself is now 
 universally studied in schools with much greater zeal 
 than formerly, in regard to its grammar, its history, and.
 
 170 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 its style ; the history of literature is not neglected either, 
 though it consists less in making the pupils acquainted 
 with the facts of literary history, than in making them read 
 entire works. The subjects for essays, so far as I have 
 seen them, appeared to me very appropriate ; they rarely 
 rose into a region difficult to be reached by young people. 
 Even Milton cautioned teachers against such essays ; he 
 insists upon the pupils' powers being exercised in observ- 
 ing and distinguishing, and in the clear description of what 
 they have observed ; essays of a deeper kind should be 
 reserved for more gifted pupils. I have actually seen 
 such different themes given out in the same class, accord- 
 ing to the different abilities of the pupils. 
 
 The elementary instruction in reading and writing 
 English precedes the course of the higher schools ; but 
 still the occupation with these matters does not cease 
 there, inasmuch as orthography— spelling— requires to 
 be practised by most pupils even up to the highest forms; 
 many leave school, and proceed to a university without 
 having attained a perfect knowledge of spelling. To 
 learn to read is much more difficult, and requires much 
 more time in England than in Germany, because they 
 have to commit to memory the arbitrary ways of traditional 
 spelling. The attempt which has been made from time 
 to time, to remove the great anomalies of English ortho- 
 graphy, and to correct the strange customs by means of 
 a phonetic system, has just now been renewed, and is 
 supported by the authority of Max Miiller. Yet it is to 
 be foreseen that this time also the attempt will produce 
 no effect. People like too much that to which they have 
 been accustomed from their youth, and will not break 
 with all the dear old absurdities of spelling ; and moreover 
 
 I
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 171 
 
 people have no time to undertake changes, which, even if 
 they were unassailable, might soon again require further 
 correction. We cannot stand still long enough, they say, 
 to establish a regular order ; and it is sufficient that, for 
 example, the words right, rite, ivrighi, though pro- 
 nounced in the same way, are diflferent to the eye, for in 
 our days the intercourse by means of reading and writing 
 is much more extensive than that by hearing,* and in the 
 context of sentences words like those mentioned are 
 after all rightly understood. Such considerations leave 
 the difficulties of the first instruction unsolved. This 
 arbitrariness as to spelling, the motley mixture of words 
 borrowed from different languages, and the grammatical 
 poverty, have sometimes been made use of for the purpose 
 of showing that the English language is inferior to 
 others ; but, as I think, unjustly. All these defects may 
 be admitted, and we may yet, like Jacob Grimm, praise 
 the peculiar excellences of the English language. Our 
 Grerman language has more originality ; nay, in the freer 
 and finer grammatical development, as well as in its 
 copiousness of words, and the greater facility of forming 
 compounds, it has a richer variety of expression for all 
 the shades of intellectual life ; it is wonderful, on the other 
 hand, what a ready instrument the English language is 
 for the first object, that of mutual understanding, and how 
 beautiful and sublime it can nevertheless be in poetry. 
 The established usage of the language always takes the 
 shortest road to its goal, while the French scruples at no 
 roundabout way, provided it is more pleasant. The con- 
 struction of sentences is in both languages analytic ; but 
 
 * " The business of the world is carried on more by reading and 
 writing — by the eye and by the baud — than by liearing and speaking."
 
 172 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 the Englisli, in spite of its many sliort words, has greater 
 compactness, and l^y its simplicity also greater force. 
 How temperate is the application of colouring in the use 
 of its adjectives and adverhs, and how free is it from 
 everything superlative ! It is, as already remarked, a 
 good and solid instrument, like everything English. In 
 order to use it rapidly, time has not even been spent upon 
 polishing it a little ; the French reminds us of the taste- 
 ful elegance of all Parisian manufactures. 
 
 These qualities of the English language are invaluable 
 in our age, which is concerned about nothing so much as 
 about the acceleration and facility of intercourse. The 
 editor of a newspaper said to me, " We write in haste 
 for people who read in haste." " You Germans," he 
 added in a further conversation, " make it difficult for us 
 to learn your language, not only by your complicated 
 grammar and copious dictionary, but still more by your 
 long-winded sentences. If the reading of Latin authors 
 in your schools contributes to this effect, you follow to 
 your disadvantage Cicero, while we rather follow Cassar." 
 I was indeed able to mention to him German authors 
 who make no periods at all, but only put short sentences 
 side by side ; but they are no more to be taken as models 
 than those who write complicated sentences. In point 
 of style, we may certainly learn something from the 
 English and the French. Through the development of 
 our public life, we have already made some progress, but 
 still they write more freely and with greater freshness ; 
 their sentences begin in a more natural way, are free from 
 overcrowding, and have an easy flow, while we are more 
 dependent upon the study of books, and write with less 
 ease and liveliness. Among the conditions of a good 
 
 i
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 173 
 
 style are a fine feeling for the rhythm of a sentence, for 
 the harmony of its parts, and the right place for its 
 main point. To cultivate this feeling, so far as it is not 
 done by natural habit, is one of the objects of instruction 
 in the mother-tongue; among Englishmen it seems to 
 me to be very widely diffused, just as much as attention 
 to clearness and propriety in speaking and writing. 
 After this digression I will add a few more remarks on 
 other subjects of the course of instruction. 
 
 Eistonj and geography occupy a very different place in 
 English schools from what they do in Germany. Stuart 
 Mill declared it to be an absurdity to teach these siibjects 
 in school at all, saying that the necessary knowledge of 
 them was best acquired by reading. This is the opinion 
 of the majority. In schools only Greek, Eoman, and 
 English history are taught, and at examinations questions 
 are confined to these three ; in geography also, if we 
 except that of Greece and Italy, those parts of the earth 
 are almost exclusively studied which are of interest to the 
 English people. Even on admission into the lower forms, 
 where other elementary subjects are required, it is not 
 expected that the pupil should know the form of the earth 
 or anything else belonging to general geography, but only 
 the outlines of the geography of England. The history 
 of France and Germany is considered only in so far as the. 
 reading of a book, or a fact of English history renders it 
 necessary to refer to them. This shows a voluntary, 
 national self-restraint. To enlarge the horizon of youth 
 into a survey of universal history is believed to be un- 
 necessary and useless. The treatment of English history 
 itself evidently aims at nothing beyond the facts which 
 may possibly be the necessary consequence of the opposi-
 
 174 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 tion of i^olitieal parties. A father does not wish his son 
 to be taught by the teacher views different from his own 
 and those of his family ; hence it is considered more safe 
 to limit the study of history to the reading of recognised 
 or standard books. The teaching of ancient history 
 is always one of the functions of the classical teacher. 
 Several public schools have begun, as has been done in 
 G-ermany also, to establish museums of casts and other 
 copies as a means of bringing ancient objects vividly 
 before the eyes of the pupils. 
 
 A few remarks upon religious instruction must be 
 reserved for a future letter. 
 
 Instruction in singing and drawing has during the last 
 years become very popular, and at present there are but 
 few public higher schools in which these subjects are 
 neglected. 
 
 Gymnastics in the German fashion has gradually found 
 more and more supporters, and several institutions already 
 possess a gymnasium. The Eector of the High School of 
 Edinburgh told me that he intended to make it obligatory 
 during one quarter of the year for every class, and in- 
 struction in singing during two quarters. Besides the 
 athletic sports which formerly took the place of physical 
 exercises, we now find that in some of the public schools 
 gymnastics also are taught; at least their introduction 
 is much desired, especially for those older pupils who do 
 not take part in the games and are much occupied with 
 their books, and for the younger ones who cannot 
 yet join in the games. For all these the constitutional* 
 is considered too small an amount of exercise. The 
 
 * A walk in the o[.cu air to promote digestion.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 175 
 
 conviction moreover has gained ground tliat through the 
 English games the muscles of the arms are disproportion- 
 ately developed, and that young people thereby do not ac- 
 quire any skill in leaping and vaulting. Those who do not 
 take part in the game of cricket are at present provided 
 in some schools, as, e.g., at Harrow, with workshops 
 for lessons in turning, carpentering, and planing. The 
 consideration that gymnastic exercises are healthy will 
 always have but little influence upon the young of both 
 countries ; the spontaneous delight in the exercises them- 
 selves must give the right impulse. It cannot be disputed 
 that this pleasure will not be as easily excited and as 
 permanently maintained by the German method, though 
 it is undoubtedly more rational, as it is by the English 
 games ; we may in fact often observe how carelessly 
 gymnastic exercises are gone through by many pupils in 
 the upper forms of our schools. When I was a boy tke 
 teachers of gymnastics were still under the patriotic 
 influence of the war of liberation, and that influence was 
 transferred to us boys ; and so it will always be : national 
 custom, exciting impulses of the time, and personal 
 example in this respect always have the best influence 
 upon youth. Both England and Germany aim at a 
 school education of which the exercising and strengthening 
 of the body shall form an organic part ; each has hitherto 
 endeavoured to attain the same object, but by difl'erent 
 means. The better they understand their respective pecu- 
 liarities the sooner they will be able to learn from each 
 other without imitating each other.
 
 176 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 The preceding Subjects continued — Practical Schools (BeahcJnden) 
 — School-books — Selection of special Subjects — Mode of In- 
 struction — Results of Instruction — Holidays — Prizes and 
 Rewards — Reports — Discii^line — Pupils' Magazines — Fagging 
 — Flogging — School-houses. 
 
 Scarborouyh. 
 My last letter was chiefly occupied with those schools 
 resembling our gymnasia : a distinctly separate system of 
 Beahchulen has not yet been formed in England, but a 
 commencement has been made. The development of the 
 higher schools of Germany, especially in this direction, is 
 thought an enviable one, and young Englishmen who 
 are sent to Germany for their education attend almost 
 without exception our Beahchulen. 
 
 An impulse either to erect independent institutions, 
 such as we have in our Reahchulen and higher middle- 
 class schools (IluJiere B urgerscliulen), or to connect sub- 
 sidiary departments (modern sides) for teaching practical 
 subjects with the public and grammar schools, or to in- 
 troduce instruction in the natural sciences into their 
 curriculum, was given especially by the inquiries already 
 mentioned, which had been carried on for about ten years 
 respecting the existence and nature of the instruction 
 in the natural sciences. The reports of the different 
 Commissions have been drawn up with extreme care, and 
 one reads them with increasing interest. The Eoyal Com- 
 mission appointed in 1870 on scientific instruction and the 
 advancement of science has examined about two hundred
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 177 
 
 schools, and other Commissions have demanded written 
 information. The time which was found devoted to natural 
 science in the public and grammar schools varied from one 
 half-hour to ten hours per week. The Commissioners could 
 but rarely be satisfied with the results of the instruction ; 
 there was no great inclination to devote more time and 
 means to it, and the head-masters often expressed their 
 doubts as to the educational value of this very enlarge- 
 ment of the course of instruction. The observation that 
 in several modern sides already existing, the whole tone 
 among the pupils was lower than in the classical side, 
 might indeed act as a warning against it.* But some head- 
 masters soon displayed great zeal in the matter, being 
 in some instances urged on by their governing bodies 
 which were liberal enough to grant funds for the 
 enlargement of the school by a laboratory and suitable 
 class rooms, as well as for the purchase of apparatus, 
 and mineralogical and other collections. In some schools 
 natural history was to be taught at once in the lowest 
 forms, and a considerable number of marks was to be given 
 to it ; but the warning coming even from decided advo- 
 cates of the study of natural history not to begin too 
 early with it was after all attended to, whence it is now 
 assigned rather to the middle and ujjper forms ; and here 
 we not rarely find that pupils make collections and 
 increase them during their excursions, that they form 
 scientific societies among themselves, and in a variety of 
 ways show their interest in the matter. Chemistry 
 especially is a favourite study. 
 
 * One of the Commissioners says : " My impression has been that a 
 modern side is a modern mistakew There is an absence of that high 
 tone which is one of the crowning glories of our English schools."
 
 178 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 Matlaematics and natural philosophy have of course an 
 important place assigned to them in the modern sides ; 
 hut as I have, I think, already remarked most teachers 
 go heyond the proper limits by introducing subjects 
 wliic'h, if fixed principles were followed, would be left to 
 other institutions. I do not here allude to Latin, which 
 is always taiight in the English Puealschulen, and is at 
 least optional ; but several schools even offer instruction 
 in Greek, and the City of London School even in Sanscrit 
 and Persian ; in the same school those wishing to enter 
 a class where Latin is taught, are also required, among 
 other things, to be acquainted with the properties of air 
 and water. Some profess to teach not only book-keep- 
 ing, but fortification, civil engineering and the like, but 
 this is not generally approved of, because, it is said, the 
 school by such lessons in most cases only imparts a 
 knowledge which afterwards in practical life has to be 
 unlearned or modified. It often happens that subjects 
 are admitted into the course of instruction, only because 
 a prize has been founded for distinction in it. 
 
 In Scotland, middle-class schools, resembling our modern 
 Kealschulen, were established on the advice of the Re- 
 former John Knox : on. the basis of general instruction, 
 which also included the study of Latin, they were in- 
 tended to prepare youths with a due regard to what 
 would be required of them in after life. 
 
 The prevalent modern tendency of schools aims at 
 making young people acquainted at an early period with 
 the riches of modern life, and bringing before tliera the 
 wonders of the arts and industries of the difi'erent nations 
 and periods, as well as things which are of historical 
 interest. Such a combination of amusement and instruc-
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 179 
 
 tion for the great public is offered by the Crystal Palace, 
 near London, whence educational establishments in its 
 neighbourhood, for girls as well as for boys, promise in 
 their advertisements to avail themselves of its oppor- 
 tunities for instruction. But whoever has become in- 
 timately acquainted with such enterprises and the com- 
 bination of varied mercantile industry and all possible 
 amusements with the more serious objects of education, 
 will seriously object to extend the knowledge of the 
 young by such means. 
 
 I have often heard complaints about the great number 
 and the difference of school hooks, many of which are 
 said to be no longer suitable to the present require- 
 ments. As there does not exist any controlling power 
 over schools, head-masters have full power of either re- 
 taining old or introducing new books. Yet the manner 
 in which some years ago the Latin Primer was forced 
 upon most public schools by the School Inquiry Com- 
 missioners, in spite of much opposition, is surely a case 
 of bureaucratic interference, such as could not occur in 
 the Gymnasia of Prussia. Moreover, a regard to demands 
 made by other bodies, such as we find in the prospectus 
 of the Edinburgh High School : " All the books pre- 
 scribed in the various subjects for the medical pre- 
 liminary examination are read in the course of the 
 sixth class," does not occur in Prussia, notwithstanding 
 our system of giving privileges to such as have gone 
 through a certain course of instruction.* 
 
 * These privileges remind me of another remark made in the same 
 prospectus : " The school is recognised by government as one in which 
 gentlemen may be prepared for civil engineer ai^pointments imder 
 government in India and the Colonies." 
 
 N 2
 
 180 GEEMAN LETTEES 
 
 The fixed order of the system of classes in the higher 
 schools of Germany is unknown in England, and it is 
 only now and then that we meet with an arrangement 
 approaching it. The system according to subjects is 
 almost universal in England, and thus the school as a 
 whole is much more free and more loose than with us. 
 In some institutions I found a continual change in the 
 classes ; the pupils and their numbers were different 
 from hour to hour. This system also renders it necessary 
 to change the class-rooms for the different subjects of 
 instruction. With us the teacher always goes to the 
 assembled pupils, whereas in English schools I often 
 found that every teacher had a separate class-room, in 
 which the pupils had to assemble. The duration of lessons 
 also differs, and the same bell does not give the signal 
 for the beginning or the end of all lessons : some last 
 more than an hour, others only one-half or three-quarters 
 of an hour. In many schools, e.g. in University College 
 •School, London, pupils may select their subjects as in a 
 restaurant where you dine a la carte: whoever does not 
 wish one subject takes another in its place, in order to 
 complete a certain quantity prescribed. Of 382 pupils 
 in the High School of Edinburgh during last year, 320 
 learned Latin, 85 Greek, 147 Mathematics, 308 French, 
 and 298 Natural Science. 
 
 Besides this much freedom is everywhere given to 
 boys of the upper forms to occupy themselves according 
 to their inclination. The Grammar School of Manchester 
 may serve as an example of the variety of subjects that 
 may be chosen : in its modern side during the present 
 year it had to hold examinations, among other things, 
 in geology, metallurgy, nautical astronomy, animal phy- 
 
 i
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 181 
 
 siology, organic chemistry, applied mechanics, and build- 
 ing construction. In the reports about Dulwich College, 
 after specifying certain special studies, it is stated that 
 in the highest form the selection of subjects is still more 
 free : " In this form the choice of special subjects of 
 study is less restricted than in the lower forms, while 
 the opportunity is given to all boys, according to their 
 several tastes or intended pursuits, of devoting a larger 
 proportion of their time either to classical studies on -the 
 one hand, or to mathematics and science on the other." 
 
 The great object is to promote private study, and it is 
 thought that in reality only the ancient languages and 
 mathematics are suitable for school instruction ; it is 
 feared to overburden the young mind by much teaching, 
 and to deprive it of its elasticity and of the pleasure 
 of directing its strength towards self-chosen subjects. 
 Hence teachers approve of pupils choosing particular 
 books for their study, and of their occupying themselves 
 with them more or less exclusively, until they are per- 
 fectly at home in them. I was told that Lord Macaulay's 
 father on consulting Lord Brougham about the education 
 of his son, received the answer that he ought to recom- 
 mend him to study diligently Demosthenes and Dante, 
 which was actually done. It is not difficult in Macaulay's 
 writings to discover the eflfect of his long study of the 
 Greek orator, but it is not easy to see the results of his 
 occupation with the great Italian poet. 
 
 A fundamental difference between the learning at 
 school in England and in Germany, a difference which 
 may be traced in many directions, is the fact that there 
 everything is more isolated, and that less importance is 
 attached to the connecting of subjects than is the case with
 
 182 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 us, as is clear from the arrangement of our plans of study 
 as well as from tlie treatment of tlie several subjects. 
 Wliat teachers in England aim at especially is, that the 
 pupils shall acquire a very limited but accurate amount 
 of knowledge ; but it appears to me that they do not 
 sufficiently prevent the undue isolation of subjects, and 
 take up many things for which the indispensable pre- 
 paration is wanting. Hence boys read authors without 
 having that knowledge of grammar, which, according to 
 our view, is absolutely necessary : of this the examination 
 questions contain very striking examples. I found that 
 Euripides was put into the hands of boys after they had 
 learned Grreek for only one year ; and in another school 
 I saw that pupils still engaged with the rudiments of 
 Latin grammar were already reading Virgil's Eclogues, 
 and similar things I found elsewhere. With us Sophocles' 
 Electra would not be read in a class that has not yet 
 got beyond Xenophon's Anabasis.* It often happens 
 that strangers who offer themselves, or are invited, 
 deliver lectures on historical, geographical, or scientific 
 subjects in schools, whereas we consider the advantages 
 of such lectures to be very doubtful, if the elementary 
 knowledge necessary for understanding them is wanting. 
 According to all this it may be presumed that the 
 method of instruction in English schools is essentially 
 different from our own. I have become acquainted with 
 some teachers who thoroughly understood the art of 
 making their pupils correctly apprehend the subject of 
 the lesson ; but in general the attendance at an English 
 lesson affords little opportunity for discovering that 
 
 * Some further details on courses of instruction are given in Appen- 
 dix No. V.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 18.'] 
 
 teaching is an art ; the hour is for tlie most part devoted 
 to hearing the lesson said hy heart ; the learning a lesson 
 and writing exercises take place under different superin- 
 tendents, and rather out of lesson hours than in them. 
 In the modern middle-class schools the procedure is more 
 like our own, and the hour is devoted to varied oral in- 
 struction and examination, and not merely to hearing 
 lessons said by heart. Nowhere do we find as much done 
 in writing as with us. In translating an author they 
 usually employ an appropriate method : hoys in the lower 
 forms are made to translate word for word, and are 
 gradually allowed more freedom until in the upper forms 
 the thoughts are freely rendered ; a model translation by 
 the teacher himself is often given, as is also the case in 
 German gymnasia. 
 
 English teachers themselves have expressed to me their 
 regret that with them the usual proceeding is too much 
 of a routine, and has too little vivifying power, that lessons 
 are almost exclusively learned by memory, and that the 
 examinations outside the school are greatly to be blamed 
 for this. During several lessons which I attended I was 
 struck with the indolent manner of the pupils ; in the 
 playground they were full of life and cheerfulness, while 
 in class they sat there without interest and wearied, and 
 the answers were given in such a low voice, and so in- 
 distinctly, that I was often unable to understand them. 
 The teacher took no notice of this, and sometimes he him- 
 self did not speak clearly and distinctly, and immediately 
 helped the boys where they hesitated. They are not 
 accustomed to watch themselves in such matters in the 
 manner in which a schoolmaster in Prussia is expected 
 to do. In explaining the classical authors in the upper
 
 184 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 forms, the questions always referred to grammatical, 
 historical, and geographical details, things which can be 
 briefly asked and answered, but much less attention was 
 paid to the connection of ideas. We read the ancient 
 authors more for the purpose of introducing the young to 
 a knowledge of antiquity in general, and while we direct 
 the attention of the pupils more to the internal connection 
 of what is read, we also make them acquainted with the 
 position occupied by the author in his time, and in 
 the literature of his nation. In English schools, more- 
 over, it is less customary than with us, thoroughly to 
 discuss any difliculty as a common exercise in methodical 
 work. I was astonished to find that in reading Horace, 
 the pupils scarcely knew the name of Bentley ; but this 
 is explained by what I have said before. I may here 
 mention an occurrence as an illustration. I happened to 
 have taken my place in a railway carriage by the side of 
 a young man whom I took to be a pupil. He was reading 
 a novel of Sir Walter Scott ; we got into a conversation, 
 and I asked him whether at school he also read Homer, to 
 which he replied, "To be sure." In the course of our con- 
 versation I asked him whether he could mention anything 
 that was common to an epic poem and the novel of Sir 
 Walter Scott which he was reading. He soon came to 
 mention the descriptions, and as I inquired after their 
 difference in Homer and Scott, he after some preliminary 
 remarks hit upon the correct answer, saying that the 
 former described tlie things as they were growing, the 
 latter things as they were ready and completed. He 
 looked at me with a feeling of satisfaction, as if he had 
 made some new discovery. When I asked him whether 
 attention was not directed to such things at school, he
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 185 
 
 replied " No, we must construe, translate, and commit to 
 memory." 
 
 But I may have been unfortunate in my observations, 
 and I have no doubt that in England, as with us, peoj^le 
 have a higher idea of what instruction should be in the 
 highest forms,* and that in England, too, there are not 
 wanting teachers who know the pleasure which arises 
 from the living intellectual intercourse with the young, 
 and which animates the teacher and his pupils when at 
 his bidding the spirit of the author buried in the book is 
 recalled to life, and comes in contact with the susceptible 
 mind of the pupil. Such an animating stimulus we 
 value more highly than an amount of knowledge of 
 things and language ; we want both, but not the one 
 without the other. 
 
 A lesson which becomes an elevating and intellectual 
 communion of the teacher with his pupils, is an im- 
 possibility when the former is obliged constantly to keep 
 his attention fixed upon externals ; and I have reason to 
 suppose that such is still the case in many English 
 schools. Imagine a highest form as I have witnessed it, 
 in which Thucydides or Tacitus is read ; the master has 
 the author before him, together with a list of the pupils. 
 His questions are put according to the order in which the 
 pupils sit, and for every answer he adds a number to the 
 name of the pupil who has answered : it is the number 
 of marks which the answer merits ! This process was 
 
 * I have often heard teachers themselves expressing their dissatis- 
 faction with the customary mechanical proceeding, which cannot be 
 called method at all : " We condemn the practice of making the 
 classical authors mere text-books for the acquisition of words, by which 
 all sense of the beauty of their works is lost in the mechanical 
 drudgery of making sense out of the words."
 
 186 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 repeated several times during the same hour, and after it 
 the pupils crowded round the desk to learn the number 
 of marks they had gained, and each one then entered the 
 number in a book for himself. At the end of a week, 
 the marks are summed up to be afterwards considered 
 when prizes are distributed. Such a proceeding, even in 
 the highest forms, has at least the advantage that it 
 prevents the teacher from occupying himself only with 
 a few pupils, and that he is obliged to engage the atten- 
 tion of all. But the teachers who know and wish for what 
 is better are in a disagreeable position, when they consider 
 on the one hand the requirements at examinations, and 
 on the other hand the desire for prizes and other marks 
 of distinction. 
 
 Eespecting the success of instruction and its results in 
 the higher English schools in general, I do not presume 
 to have an opinion. The head-masters themselves are 
 not particularly satisfied with them, nor were the School 
 Inquiry Commissioners. The universities complain of 
 the defective preparation of their students, and in like 
 manner the public and grammar schools complain that 
 they receive their pupils from the lower and especially 
 from the private schools without sufficient elementary 
 preparation. Praiseworthy exceptions are of course not 
 wanting. But what I myself have observed and must 
 regard as one of the most striking differences from our 
 German school training is, again, the isolation of the 
 different kinds of knowledge possessed by English pupils. 
 A boy may be able to translate Horace and Tacitus, and 
 yet be occupied with the first elements in Greek ; again, 
 one may have made good progress in the ancient lan- 
 guages, as ought to be expected in the highest forms,
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 187 
 
 while in history and geography he may show an igorauce 
 such as we shoukl consider to be disgraceful to his age. 
 We in Germany lay more stress upon a progressive de- 
 velopment of the pupil's general culture. The desire to 
 acquire the utmost amount of detailed knowledge of facts 
 has evidently been fostered in England by the system 
 of examinations. The instruction in English and in 
 arithmetic seems to me on the whole to be the most 
 satisfactory. The art of making Latin and Greek verses 
 is not yet extinct in the public schools. I have read 
 with great pleasure in the reports of some of them Latin 
 Elegiacs and attempts at translations of passages from 
 Shakspeare into Greek. The weakest point in my opinion 
 everywhere was Latin prose. 
 
 If you inquire for the reasons why on the whole the 
 results of instruction are not satisfactory, I must again 
 refer you to the system of examinations. The effect of 
 the long summer vacation also is not inconsiderable ; it 
 generally lasts two months, during which so much is 
 forgotten that the teachers with many pupils have to 
 perform a labour like that of the Danaides. All the 
 vacations together in the higher schools amount to about 
 fifteen weeks annually ; in some private institutions and 
 in the middle-class schools they do not last so long. In 
 some schools work is given out to be done during the 
 holidays. It moreover appears to me as if even in those 
 schools where excellent instruction is given, the pupils 
 were not sufficiently encouraged to avail themselves of 
 it ; it is according to our notions left too much to them- 
 selves as to whether they desire to learn anything or not. 
 If they do learn, it is generally not because this freedom 
 has created a love of learning, though in some instances
 
 188 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 this is certainly the case ; but the real motive is much 
 more frequently either anxiety about the coming examina- 
 tion or the hope of reward. 
 
 This leads me to speak of prizes. Of all the contrasts 
 ^Yhich the English mode of thinking and acting shows, 
 none has appeared to me so striking and contradictory as 
 the fact that a nation which has so great and sacred an 
 idea of duty makes no use of that idea in the school 
 education of the young ; it has rather allowed it to become 
 the custom, and it is an evil custom, to regard the prospect 
 of reward and honour as the chief impulse to industry 
 and exertion. Nelson's words to his men before the 
 battle of Trafalgar are well known, and whoever resides 
 in England has plenty of opportunities of observing in 
 the family life and elsewhere in the actions of men the 
 effects of a wide-spread and deep sense of duty ; every 
 child that learns the English catechism carries from it 
 into life the command everywhere to do its duty.* In 
 Germany Kant, who by his ancestors was connected with 
 Scotland, and whose whole intellectual tendency points 
 back to David Hume, has, during a period of national 
 languor, awakened a sense of duty among the educated 
 classes and thence extended to the masses of the people, 
 which will ever remain the glory of the practical side of 
 his philosophy. But I may say in general that a sense of 
 duty is implanted in the German as in the English mind ; 
 and the action of our schools also can bear witness to it, 
 though they must be more concerned about stirring up 
 the higher motive, the love of learning. Other and 
 external motives, it must be admitted, also have their 
 
 * In the explanation of the commandments we read : " to do my 
 duty in that state of life, unto which it shall please God to call me."
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 189 
 
 effect, e.g., those which originate in our system of granting 
 privileges. Even he who is not so rigorous as to condemn 
 in schools every appeal to ambition, will not be able to 
 approve of the manner in which it is fostered in English 
 schools. At all stages of instruction, from the uni- 
 versity to the elementary school, rewards and prizes 
 are in England among the chief incentives to industry ; 
 even in Sunday Schools, which are sometimes held in 
 churches, incredible as it may seem, this means is 
 thought indispensable. Prizes and medals are given not 
 only for good progress in learning but also for good 
 conduct. As the custom is universal, no doubts about it 
 ever arise : it has always been so. The Monthyon prize in 
 France, given as a public reward for the most virtuous act, 
 is justly considered in England as something eminently 
 characteristic of the French ; but in the system of giving 
 prizes in schools there is no difference between the 
 English and the French. If any one wishes to benefit an 
 institution, the first thing always is to found prizes and 
 scholarships, which in this way have enormously increased 
 in some schools. If any one wished to establish a new 
 school without at the same time holding out a prospect 
 of attractive rewards, he would meet with little support, 
 and in the old schools prizes, medals, &c., are among the 
 most effective recommendations. In the printed reports 
 of some institutions the money value of the prize books 
 also is stated. Add to this the fact that the names of 
 those who have gained prizes are published. It is a great 
 evil, and often noticed by parents whose sons do not 
 gain distinctions, that the teachers in order to win great 
 honours for their institution through individual pupils 
 often occupy themselves principally with those who are
 
 190 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 likely to gain prizes. Even the College of Preceptors 
 offers prizes, although it is in no way connected with 
 schools, but it employs this means in order to entice 
 schools and scholars to submit to its examinations. 
 
 About the end of July of the present year, when after 
 the closing of the schools many pupils went home for the 
 holidays, I heard a father greet his son at the railway 
 station with the question: "How many prizes?" And 
 when the boy said " Three," the father's countenance 
 seemed to ask, " No more?" In Scotland I heard a mother 
 on a similar occasion say: "What place in the class?" 
 With us in Germany the question would be : " Have you 
 been promoted?" or "Have you a good report?" Girls 
 too are drawn into the same competition for honours, and 
 are made to appear at the public distribution of prizes. I 
 have been present on an occasion when at a large assembly 
 girls of the age of fifteen or sixteen hastened up to the 
 platform among boys publicly to receive prizes amid 
 general applause. Even wealthy parents, for the sake 
 of the honour, attach much importance to their sons 
 gaining at competitions scholarships which were originally 
 destined for poor pupils. A gentleman in the very best 
 position told me with great pleasure of having just 
 received the news that his son, who in consequence of a 
 successful competitive examination was in the enjoyment 
 of a scholarship at school, had now on entering the highest 
 form, in another competition, gained a university scholar- 
 ship ; but that on account of his youth he was to remain 
 another year at school, and had now received the promise 
 that the amount of the scholarship for that year would be 
 paid to him as soon as he entered the university, so that 
 during the first year at the university he would be in the
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 191 
 
 enjoyment of two scholarships. You may hear English- 
 men say : " You must pay people if they are to learu 
 anything, otherwise it will not do," and their argument, 
 the logic of which looks like cynicism, is, " Do you 
 suppose that barristers occupy themselves with law, or the 
 physician with medicine, from a love of the thing ? No ! 
 they want to earn money. Why should we demand 
 greater disinterestedness from young men ? " 
 
 We are also much struck with the great number of 
 prizes. On a Speech-day (in St. Paul's School, London, it 
 is called Apposition Day) there is always in public schools 
 a brilliant assembly of ladies and gentlemen. A German 
 accustomed to the quiet proceedings on such occasions 
 must in England arm himself with patience to bear the 
 repeated and protracted clapping of hands and stamping 
 of feet which accompany the entrance of particular 
 persons, the calling out of the names of teachers, of bene- 
 factors, of pupils that are to receive prizes, and the 
 distribution itself. In a theological seminary the pro- 
 ceedings are equally noisy, and in this respect it does not 
 differ from schools for young boys. At the distribution 
 of prizes consisting of books, medals, &c., which is always 
 undertaken by some person of distinction, it often 
 happens that the same pupil receives prizes for different 
 subjects, so that sometimes he is unable without help to 
 carry away the mass of books presented to him. How 
 modest, how secondary, and how devoid of any influence 
 upon the whole action of the school do the proceedings 
 appear which take place in some of our schools when 
 prizes are distributed ! 
 
 In some English private schools the thing becomes a 
 real caricature. Parents themselves have told me lauo-h-
 
 192 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 ingly that their son had already so-and-so many marks, 
 e.g., two hundred, for having arrived pimctually after 
 the holidays, and that last week he had obtained one 
 hundred because he had appeared every morning with his 
 hair neatly brushed, his shoes properly tied, &c. These 
 marks are afterwards summed up, and for a fixed number 
 of marks a prize is given. In one school the two hundred 
 marks for punctuality in arriving after the holidays are 
 given to those also who did not indeed arrive, but intended 
 to do so and were prevented only by illness attested by a 
 physician. In another school a whole holiday is given 
 every month to those who at roll-call in the morning have 
 not been absent more than six times in the month.* 
 
 The public exhibitions in schools are always accompanied 
 by the danger of sacrificing truth for the sake of making 
 a good appearance. I do not mean only, that prizes 
 are often given to pupils who are well known to the 
 teachers to have but slight claims to them (as when pupils 
 of German or French origin are rewarded for their per- 
 formances in German or French), but also the self lauda- 
 tion of the schools themselves. I remember the following 
 occurrence in a middle-class school : the hall was densely 
 crowded with an interested assemblage ; when the chairman 
 appeared and had been received with great applause, one 
 of the gentlemen on the platform directed the attention 
 of the assembly to the great honour which the chairman 
 conferred upon the school by coming among them to dis- 
 
 * It makes a strange impression upon us when, in the printed lists of 
 the pupils at pjton, we always find it noticed in the case of boys of the 
 two highest forms, how often tlicy have been " sent up for good or for 
 play," the meaning of which is that they have received half-a-holiday 
 in the week on account of some good exercises.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 193 
 
 tribute the prizes, and added that the fact of such a man 
 undertaking the duty was the best proof of the excellence 
 of the school and its distinguished merits. This was 
 followed by a general clapping of hands, especially on the 
 part of the pupils. After the distribution of the prizes 
 another gentleman, in accordance with the formal English 
 custom, proposed a vote of thanks to the chairman, and 
 this being immediately seconded, the head-master of the 
 institution expressed his gratitude, and at the same time 
 mentioned the distinctions gained by the pupils who had 
 already left the school. What else could the chairman do 
 but reply by praising the school ? One of the teachers 
 who was well acquainted with German schools and to 
 whom I openly expressed my astonishment at so much 
 self-glorification of the school, which on account of its 
 large numbers alone was difficult to be kept in good 
 order, answered : " Well, I too am opposed to it. You do 
 not want such things in Germany ; we cannot do without 
 them on account of the public." 
 
 Regular reports sent to inform parents of the progress 
 and conduct of their children are now much more general 
 than they used to be ; in most cases monthly reports are 
 sent about the conduct and diligence of the pupils, and at 
 the end of every term about their progress and the results 
 of the examination. In private schools this is not cus- 
 tomary ; the principal of one said to me, " If the parents 
 wish to know how their sons are doing, they can ask 
 me ; if I were to send reports to all, which might often 
 be unfavourable, many parents would be vexed, become 
 dissatisfied with the school, and withdraw their sons; I 
 would rather not expose myself to this. 
 
 The discipline of English schools may be judged from 
 
 o
 
 194 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 very different points of view ; it is not as strict as ours, 
 either within or without the schoolhouse. It is not 
 demanded that noise and talk should cease when the 
 master enters the class room ; it is not his presence that 
 is intended to induce the pupils to be quiet, hut the idea 
 that the work is now to begin. But even then they are 
 allowed to act rather according to their own discretion ; 
 with us the lesson as such is more generally respected ; 
 it proceeds in a quiet regular course, and must not be 
 disturbed. But this is impossible, where, as is still 
 often the case in England, several classes are instructed 
 simultaneously in the same room, or where some classes 
 are under instruction while others carry on their noisy 
 games under its windows. In one school with which I 
 became acquainted the pupils behaved with great non- 
 chalance even during lessons — perhaps the boarding 
 arrangements somewhat resembled those of a family. 
 There was a perpetual coming and going : one boy went 
 out to fetch something ; another was called out because a 
 relation had come to see him, &c. ; nor was anyone except 
 myself struck by the fact that during the lessons a 
 basketful of letters which had just arrived were brought 
 to the master for distribution among the pupils, or that 
 in another class in the middle of the lesson a servant 
 brought in bread-and-butter, which the boys were to eat 
 afterwards. 
 
 English school discipline in general acts, in its way, 
 excellently, as is proved by the conduct of most young 
 men in public life. The mischief produced on many boys 
 and vouths in Germany by excessive beer drinking is 
 unknown in England ; in like manner it is rare to find 
 that schoolboys indulge in smoking, which is forbidden.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 195 
 
 Even students abstain from smoking at their free meetings 
 for discussion and in their common reading rooms ; who- 
 ever likes may go to the smoking room. I may mention 
 here by the way, that I never saw either in England or 
 Scotland boys wearing spectacles, while with us boys in the 
 middle forms may be seen with pince-nez. 
 
 In every school we may distinguish between that which 
 is done by the superior and governing spirit of the head- 
 master and teachers, and that which, more or less inde- 
 pendently of them, is developed and propagated in the 
 school as its own natural life, the traditions of the school- 
 life in which the pupils educate one another. In institu- 
 tions limited as to numbers this latter element must act 
 more powerfully than in the other schools, and the great 
 English boarding schools have more of it than the 
 German, because in the former the pupils are on principle 
 left more to themselves. Of this, however, we may per- 
 ceive not only the good results, but also an injurious 
 abuse of freedom. Youths are expected to acquire early 
 a feeling of independence and responsibility, and even 
 boys are treated according to this principle, which among 
 other things has a very good effect upon their love of 
 truth. I have no doubt but that English boys also occa- 
 sionally take refuge in a lie, but I do not think I am 
 mistaken in supposing that the majority consider it to 
 be unworthy to tell an untruth from cowardice. Many 
 teachers, convinced that mistrust demoralises, endeavour 
 to preserve and strengthen the love of truth by assuming 
 truthfulness in their pupils, and by believing their state- 
 ments without hesitation. 
 
 People in England do not attach much importance to 
 an education that watches the pupil at every step he 
 
 o '2
 
 196 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 takes ; tlie tutors also are not accnstomed to trouble 
 themselves about the inner life of those intrusted to them. 
 Thomas Arnold indeed, like Locke, had a high opinion 
 of the office of a teacher, and considered it to be, like 
 the clerical office, a cure of souls, but even he did not 
 j)romiuently display it. When Englishmen read that 
 German teachers try to exercise an influence upon the 
 inclinations, the sentiments, and the imagination of the 
 pupils, they sometimes call this " meddlesomeness," and 
 are of opinion that all this is in fact only a " benevolent 
 j)aternal despotism," which disturbs the free development 
 of boys and youths. You must not damp the ardour of 
 the young they say, for who can know whether the boy is 
 not destined to open new paths for his nation, and we 
 need not wonder if such a boy, even at an early period, 
 struggles against customary laws. Every one must be 
 allowed to experience and to bear the consequences of 
 his own imprudence, folly, and idleness ; this, they say, 
 is the best and most impressive instruction. In the same 
 sense a father declared to me : " My principle is to allow 
 my son absolutely to do what he pleases and as he pleases. 
 If he does not want to learn to-day, never mind, he will 
 perhaps do it to-morrow all the more diligently. I in- 
 terfere only when he gets into bad ways, and then I stop 
 him." We consider such conduct towards the young as 
 cruel and unwise, especially because the consequences of 
 tolerated perversities often show themselves only at a 
 much later period, and also because even at school the 
 bad example may do much mischief. 
 
 Many things forbidden by the disciplinary rules of our 
 schools are allowed in England. Some weeks ago, when 
 I arrived in a town which possesses a public school, the
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 197 
 
 morning lessons had just ended, and I saw crowds of boys 
 hurrying into a neighbouring confectioner's shop. Pupils, 
 whose parents live at a distance, and who do not wish to 
 avail themselves of the opportunity frequently offered of 
 dining in the school-house, may take their dinner in any 
 public place they choose. In like manner they are 
 permitted to visit places of all kinds of public amuse- 
 ments and meetings, even the courts of law. The West- 
 minster boys may attend discussions in Parliament. 
 There is no supervision or limit as to what they may 
 read. They are in every way encouraged to make them- 
 selves acquainted at an early period with the works of 
 Shakespeare. In one of the higher middle-class schools I 
 saw Shakespeare's works given as a prize to boys of twelve 
 and thirteen years. In such cases the national interest 
 in the poet outweighs educational considerations. The 
 reading of the daily papers stimulates the young to 
 occupy themselves very early with political and other 
 questions of public life. In one great boarding school 
 the boys took no less than twelve different newspapers. 
 On speech days they recite, among other things, speeches 
 of celebrated statesmen — e.g. that of Lord Brougham on 
 Parliamentary reform, and similar subjects are discussed 
 in their debating societies. Other questions which I 
 found discussed in such a society are, e.g., cremation ; 
 capital punishment ; whether more rights ought to be 
 granted to women ; whether a statue ought to be erected 
 to Byron ; whether compulsory school attendance ought to 
 be introduced, &c. Most of the higher schools have such 
 societies, where pupils exercise themselves in extempore 
 speaking ; and they are looked upon with favour, in order 
 that the boys may early overcome the natural timidity in
 
 198 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 speaking before large assemblies, and in order that they 
 may acquire, even in their early years, some readiness in 
 the use of the armour of words. Not a few members of 
 Parliament gratefully remember these preparatory exer- 
 cises at school and in the university. 
 
 Most of the great schools, moreover, publish their own 
 periodicals. I have seen many such school magazines* 
 Their contents afford no reason for such considerations 
 as would render it necessary in Germany, either to forbid 
 or limit similar undertakings. They contain articles 
 almost exclusively on subjects connected with the school; 
 communications about special occurrences in it, or con- 
 nected with its earlier history, on the lives of former 
 pupils, letters of former pupils from a distance ; among 
 the latter I found, e.g., letters on the progress of the 
 missions to the heathen in Asia and Africa ; obituaries in 
 the manner of the Ecce which is customary at Sculpforte, 
 and now also at Ilfeld ; descriptions of holiday excur- 
 sions ; reports of competitive games played with other 
 schools ; on the progress of natural history and other 
 collections, poetical essays and the like. Their imitation 
 of the life of adults in clubs and other societies, and their 
 observing the forms of public meetings, cannot but appear 
 to us as signs of a certain precocity ; the same impres- 
 sion is made on us by occasional reports on the internal 
 condition of the school, or on the result of examinations, 
 by moralising exhortations, and the like. 
 
 However, the great freedom allowed to school-boys no 
 
 • E.fj, The Etonian, Carthusian, Alleynian, Mill Hill Magazine, 
 The Blue, The Ulula, The Wellingtonian, The Wykehamist, The 
 Elizabethan, The Blackhcathan, Bloxhamist, Felstedian, Camden 
 School Record, Clifton School Magazine.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 199 
 
 longer meets with general approval ; I have heard persons 
 express their displeasure at the fact that public schools, 
 in regard to the independence in their formation of 
 character, anticipate many things which belong to the 
 universities, and that, on the other hand, they leave much 
 to the universities which ought to have been done at 
 school. Parents of this opinion therefore often prefer 
 entrusting their sons to private institutions, whose pro- 
 spectuses promise a strict surveillance. The newly esta- 
 blished Catholic institutions likewise maintain a strict 
 discipline among their pupils ; even the students of Ken- 
 sington University are not allowed to go to concerts, 
 theatres, balls, and the like. 
 
 To exercise such a control over young men can have 
 no good efiects, and one is astonished to meet with it in 
 England. The educational unsuitableness of the opposite 
 system, followed in the public schools, seems to have 
 been felt in recent times. If the system of laisser /aire is 
 dangerous in the case of individuals, how much more so 
 in large institutions. And yet in former times no one 
 thought of interfering, and the evil was allowed to grow. 
 It cannot be supposed that, e.g., Dr. Farrar (in May 
 of the present year, I still saw him as head-master of 
 Marlborough College, he is now Canon of Westminster), 
 in his school novel ' Eric,' intended to represent anything 
 else than the real truth. The more one reads that book 
 the more painful it becomes to observe how moral corrup- 
 tion may spread, as if there existed no eye, no heart, and 
 no hand to stop it. Even ' Tom Brown's School Days ' is 
 after all, partially a picture of the wild side of school life, 
 and the book written, like ' Eric,' in a most attractive 
 style is read by many with very mixed feelings.
 
 '200 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 It is believed that it is owing to the monitorial S7jstem, 
 which has been introduced in several schools, that in 
 many respects matters have been improved. A definite 
 number of the younger boys is entrusted to the superin- 
 tendence of the senior boys, a practice which has been 
 customary for a long time in our great boarding schools. 
 It is the system of pupil teachers applied to education ; 
 the senior boys also give private instructions to the 
 younger ones, for which they receive a special fee ; they 
 have, moreover, the right of inflicting penalties, and 
 even corporal punishment, which is said to have been 
 found useful, and not to have been abused. The moni- 
 torial system moreover is said to have greatly softened 
 down the system of fagging. In this respect it is 
 highly valued as a personal relation promoting the de- 
 velopment of character ; to learn to obey in a community, 
 it is said, is the first step towards independence and 
 towards the guidance of others. 
 
 The system of flogging, like fagging, still exists in the 
 higher public schools. At school every one is a boy, at 
 the university he is a man ; and although the pupil is in 
 many ways already treated as a man, nothing is a greater 
 proof of his still being a boy than the fact that he is 
 still liable to be flogged. Public opinion has on various 
 occasions expressed itself against corporal punishment, as 
 degrading and brutalising, but the boys themselves do 
 not look upon it in that light. It occasionally happens 
 tliat a boy begs for a number of stripes, instead of writing 
 an imposition. Caning and birching, however, have be- 
 come less common ; and in most public and grammar 
 schools where they still exist, they are resorted to only 
 in the case of serious moral offences, unless the parents
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 201 
 
 when informed of it prefer to withdraw the boy. The 
 punishment is always inflicted by the head-master him- 
 self; and in order, to guard himself against a feeling 
 of passion, it is done in the presence of one or more of 
 the older pupils, but not before the whole class, in order 
 to spare the feelings of the culprit. In the advertise- 
 ments of some schools it is mentioned that there is no 
 corporal punishment.* They think that pupils deserving 
 such punishment ought to be removed at once, but that 
 otherwise the objects of discipline can be attained by 
 keeping in the boys, by entering their names in a black 
 book, and by the reports sent to their parents. 
 
 For a long time little attention was paid in England 
 to the proper arrangement and furniture of the class 
 rooms in school-houses. During the last three years more 
 care has been bestowed on these matters. Simultaneous 
 instruction of several classes in the same room is now 
 generally limited to those cases where one of the two 
 classes has only a silent lesson, that is, in writing or 
 drawing ; but even at Eton there does not exist a special 
 room for each class. The work of Mr. E. E. Kobson, 
 member of the London School Board, entitled School 
 Architecture (1874), is excellently adapted to give us an 
 idea of the present efforts to reform school-houses. On 
 the whole elementary schools, owing to the numerous 
 new school-houses, are now much better cared for than 
 
 * E.g., •' discipline is maintained without corporal punishment or 
 impositions." At Winchester we still see the inscription : 
 
 " Aut disce, aut discede ; manet sors tertia : csedi." 
 
 Above this inscription there is a mitre and crosier as a reward for the 
 first ; an inkstand and a sword for the second ; and a birch rod as a 
 symbol of the third.
 
 202 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 the higher schools, where we still meet with insufficient 
 and biidly arranged class rooms, some without proper 
 light, others without ventilation, and others again with 
 seats without backs ; these and other defects are met 
 with more frequently than might have been expected in 
 England. In contrast with this old state of affairs, 
 which is not entirely removed even in celebrated schools, 
 the school buildings erected in late years make the most 
 pleasing impression, whether we consider the entire 
 structure or its details. I have observed this with 
 satisfaction, e.g. in Wellington College, Dulwich College, 
 Fettes College, and in the present Charterhouse. In 
 these institutions, each of which consists of a large 
 complex of buildings, everything that contributes to 
 health, cleanliness, and order, is provided in an exemplary 
 manner. The planning of the buildings has not been 
 left to architects alone ; the respective head-masters were 
 consulted in making the plans, having previously been 
 commissioned to travel about in the country in order 
 to inspect other institutions, and then to make their 
 proposals. The Educational Collection, which forms a 
 separate department in the Kensington Museum, is very 
 instructive in regard to the furnishing of school-rooms 
 with everything requisite.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 20^ 
 
 LETTEE XIII. 
 
 Keligion in Schools — Bililical Knowledge — Ecclesiastical Character 
 of Schools — The keeping of Sunday. 
 
 Scarhoroiujli. 
 
 Keligion ix school requires a separate letter. Keligious 
 instruction, such as it appears in the plan of instruc- 
 tion in the higher schools of Germany and co-ordinate 
 with Latin, Greek, and other lessons, and systemati- 
 cally distributed over all the classes, is imparted in 
 few English institutions. But without much being said 
 about it, it is still regarded very extensively as a 
 matter of course, that religion is one of the means of 
 education, and also that a public school should have 
 a Christian character. Most people, more or less con- 
 sciously, consider the problem of school instruction to 
 be threefold : first, that it should impart positive know- 
 ledge ; secondly, that it should awaken and develop the 
 mental powers and the ability to form an independent 
 judgment; and lastly, that it should lead the soul beyond 
 what is visible and temporal to what is eternal. This is 
 generally the tacit understanding ; and when a child is 
 entrusted to a school, it is presumed that this principle 
 will be acted upon in the daily reading of the Bible and 
 saying prayers in common, a practice to which the child 
 has been accustomed in the family at home. In our day, 
 it is true, we meet in England also with theorists who 
 would like to secularise the school on account of the 
 existing religious and ecclesiastical difiterences among
 
 ^04 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 the people. If you tell them that a school without 
 religion would be opposed to the English mind, they 
 perhaps reply that this does not point to a reason, but 
 only to a feeling ; as if this opposition had not its very 
 deep reasons in the human soul, and in the idea of 
 education. 
 
 In recent times, however, several schools have been 
 established, which do not, like the public schools, make 
 education their principal object, but in reality only the 
 first of the above mentioned three, leaving the duty of the 
 religious training of the pupils entirely to their parents. 
 I have spoken of this before (p. 64, &c.). Some of the 
 new middle-class schools also, such as the great Cowper 
 Street School in London, had formed the plan of exclud- 
 ing religion, in order to escape from the difficulty above 
 alluded to. But as the public showed less indifference in 
 this matter than had been expected, that school has now 
 admitted biblical knowledge, at least as an optional sub- 
 ject, into its plan of instruction ; and when lately a bene- 
 factor of the institution offered to establish a Scripture 
 prize, it was gratefully accepted. 
 
 The middle classes, always more attached to the low 
 than to the high church party, have to a large extent 
 abandoned the English Episcopal Church, and are dis- 
 persed among the numerous religious denominations. As 
 the government has been repeatedly petitioned to take 
 under its care and give grants of money to satisfy a 
 generally felt want of special schools for the middle 
 classes, it could not leave this matter unattended to. 
 The question was not one of denominational schools, but 
 of institutions, in which, as in the public and grammar 
 schools, the foundation was to be laid of a general
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 205 
 
 and liberal culture : such an institution, however, it was 
 said, was inconceivable without the religious element, 
 and this being required, the government was faced by 
 an insurmountable obstacle ; what arrangements could it 
 make to render these schools acceptable to the many 
 and very different ecclesiastical claims of the middle 
 classes? and how could Parliament be asked to grant, 
 out of the general funds, a subvention for schools, for 
 the support of which all, without distinction of creed, 
 would have to contribute, and of which the Jews, the 
 Roman Catholics, and all the other sects, for the sake 
 of conscience, would not be willing to avail themselves ? 
 Hence middle-class schools have been left, for this and 
 other reasons, to their own free development, I shall 
 hereafter show how the government has dealt with the 
 same difficulty in the case of the elementary schools. 
 
 Parents, as I have already said, generally demand 
 nothing else, than that the school should follow the 
 religious habit, which still largely pervades the life 
 of the English nation. Hence it is an almost universal 
 custom in the public institutions for instruction and 
 education, nearly all of which have their own chapels, 
 to have morning and evening service, commonly consist- 
 ing in singing of hymns, the reading of a portion of the 
 Scriptures, and prayers. In the public schools, even the 
 day boys who do not live in the institution must take part 
 in these exercises, and have for the most part also to 
 attend divine service in the school chapel every Sunday. 
 The same practice is continued in the universities. At 
 Oxford and Cambridge it is still the rule in most colleges 
 for students daily to attend divine service. At Edin- 
 burgh, according to ancient custom, some professors,
 
 206 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 down to the most recent times, began tlieir lectures or 
 their instruction every day with a prayer, mostly with 
 the Lord's Prayer. The eminent Scotch philosopher, 
 Sir W. Hamilton (he died 1856), concluded his lectures 
 each time with the words: "God bless you all!" It is 
 a matter of importance in the religious education of 
 English youths, that in the majority of the national 
 classics with whom they are made acquainted at an early 
 period in their course of instruction, they meet with a 
 religious tone, as, e.g., in Milton, Shakspeare, Addison, 
 and many others. 
 
 All this explains why the cultivation of a religious 
 feeling is expected as a matter of course from the public 
 schools. But it does not follow that systematic instruction 
 in religion is demanded on that account. The reading of 
 the Scriptures remains the main thing ; those who belong 
 to the English Church connect with it the Catechism, 
 and in general a knowledge of the Book of Common 
 Prayer. (In Scotland it is the Shorter Catechism.) 
 In the upper forms of several schools some apologetic 
 works, such as Paley's ' Evidences,' and ' Horae Pauliuae,' 
 and Butler's ' Analogy,' must also be studied ; in one 
 institution, I found a prize offered for the study of 
 Hooker's ' Ecclesiastical Polity.' Schools do not con- 
 sider it their duty to give special dogmatic instruc- 
 tion, which would embrace Christian ethics, and cases 
 occur of parents expressly deprecating such instruction : 
 they do not wish their children to imbibe the j^rivate 
 views of a teacher, or to have them instructed in a 
 manner which might estrange them from the firm 
 scriptural foundation, and from the established eccle- 
 siastical rules. In the prospectus of one institution,
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 207 
 
 I find that besides religious instruction, " the laws of 
 morality are inculcated on all suitable occasions in the 
 course of the ordinary lessons ; and as soon as the 
 minds of the pupils are sufficiently prepared, ethics are 
 taught systematically in their social application." This 
 instruction is termed moral science, which commonly 
 comprises "logic, mental and moral philosophy," and 
 does not include history as it does in France, as opposed 
 to the exact sciences. 
 
 A thorough biblical exegesis is generally considered 
 unnecessary in religious instruction. The New Testa- 
 ment is read early in the original language, and its 
 explanation is mainly grammatical, as that of any other 
 Greek author ; as to the rest, the intention is that the 
 frequent and extensive reading and hearing of the Bible 
 shall make it known so well to every one as to explain 
 itself. Religious instruction, that is explanation of the 
 Bible, is reserved in some schools for Sundays ; on week 
 days the Bible is only read. In Oxford and Cambridge, 
 also, a knowledge of the Scriptures and of such books as 
 I have mentioned before, is one of the subjects of exami- 
 nation during the first two years. 
 
 The fact that most public schools do not lay any great 
 stress on sectarian differences in religion, and almost 
 entirely confine their religious instruction to a knowledge 
 of the Bible, explains the phenomenon of many parents 
 who do not belong to the English Church unhesitatingly 
 allowing their sons to take part in the religious instruc- 
 tion, where it is given according to the ecclesiastical rules 
 of such institutions. At present pupils are permitted in 
 almost all schools to dispense with religious instruction, 
 but on the whole little use is made of this permission,
 
 208 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 and generally only where the head-master is a clergyman. 
 The reports of the School Inquiry Commissioners contain 
 very many instances of the peaceful associating together 
 of pupils belonging to the most different denominations. 
 The Wesleyans and others generally allow their children 
 also to learn the Catechism of the English Church ; in 
 several schools the Commissioners found even Eoman 
 Catholic and Jewish pupils taking part in the reading of 
 the Scriptures, and in singing the hymns of the English 
 Church.* 
 
 The knowledge of the Old and New Testament de- 
 manded by the printed examination questions refers to 
 persons and things, history, geography, and the meaning 
 of words, and is more extensive and detailed than is 
 demanded with us, either in schools or of candidates ex- 
 amined for holy orders. f Surely much of the knowledge of 
 
 * Let me give at least one example. Mr. J. Bryce, in his report of 
 the town of Preston, remarks that few of tlie Roman Catholic and 
 Jewish jmpils of the grammar school there withdraw themselves from 
 the Bible lesson. And then continues: "The head-master, a clergy- 
 man of the Church of England, gives such comments as he thinks 
 calculated to explain the meaning without treading on controversial 
 ground. One of the under-masters is a Roman Catholic, and about half 
 the boys are, as I was informed. Nonconformists. Recently, a prize 
 given for religious knowledge was carried off by a Roman Catholic boy, 
 and a school scholarsliip was gained by the son of a Dissenting minister. 
 Every person whom I saw spoke favourably of the school, and remarked 
 on the confidence with which it was regarded by all parties in the 
 town." 
 
 t I will put down here one question from the Scripture papers for 
 1874, as an cxamide of the amount of Biblical knowledge demanded 
 even of boys according to their peculiar P'nglish views : " Suppose you 
 were living in Israel in the time of Gideon, and you desire to acquire a 
 large estate and make a large fortune ; how could you do this? 1, by 
 commerce, or 2, by lending money on interest, or 3, by art, or 4, by 
 literature, or 5, how?"
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 209 
 
 such details is unnecessary for religious culture. But 
 who will deny that in Germany an intimate knowledge of 
 the contents and connection of the Scriptures has become 
 less and less common, though it is one of the necessary 
 foundations of the Christian faith and of the Protestant 
 belief ? If we look back to the development of the in- 
 tellectual life in Germany during the last four centuries, 
 it seems, as if in the 16th and 17th centuries the Pro- 
 testant people rallied round their Bible and were absorbed 
 by it, in the 18th century by the belles-lettres, and in 
 the 19th by the political literature of newspapers. The 
 last is certainly the case in England even more than in 
 Germany, but without at the same time disregarding the 
 Bible as much as we do. Our schools have not indeed 
 forgotten what they owe to the young, but in Bible 
 knowledge they- are nevertheless far behind the English, 
 and persons well versed in the Bible {die Bibelfesten) are 
 very scarce among young and old. I remember a teacher 
 who when I inspected his school told me that he had 
 succeeded in making the pupils of the two highest forms 
 well versed in Schiller (scliiUerfest) . 
 
 As might be expected from what I have said, English 
 boys even in the lower forms are engaged with the whole 
 Bible. Locke proposed that only an abridgment should 
 be put into their hands. I have heard here and there in 
 England, though rarely, that this is the more correct 
 view, and I myself share it. We have good extracts and 
 abridgments of the Scriptures, but they are by no means 
 used everywhere in the lower forms of our schools. The 
 proper Bible for schools is still a problem that has to be 
 solved. How often have I pitied the children, both boys 
 and girls, when I saw them in Berlin and in other places 
 
 p
 
 210 CxEKMAN LETTERS 
 
 carrying the heavy Bible with their other books to school ! 
 I have no hesitation in stating that I consider it incon- 
 sistent with proper pedagogic principles to pnt the whole 
 Bible into the hands of young chiklren. 
 
 So far as the schools are concerned, sectarian contrasts 
 in England have for the most part lost their former 
 bitterness. This may be seen among others in Mill Hill 
 School, one of the best known dissenting establishments, 
 when we compare the rules laid down by the founders 
 at the beginning of this century with its present con- 
 dition in regard to the staff of its teachers and its daily 
 devotional exercises. That which unites all is now felt 
 everywhere more strongly than that which separates. 
 In one of these mixed institutions, where the sons of 
 parents belonging to the Episcopal Church were sent as 
 boarders, though there were dissenters among the teachers, 
 I heard the religious teacher, who also did not belong to 
 the English Church, at morning prayer say : " May God 
 guard us against two general dangers of this age, Eitual- 
 ism and Kationalism." For a long time there has been 
 no occasion for laying any stress upon the ecclesiastical 
 character of schools belonging either wholly or partially 
 to the English Church. There did not exist, as in the 
 countries of the continent, a contest between Church and 
 State as to which had the greater claims to the schools. 
 Neither the one nor the other had the right to control 
 them. By far the greater number, being endowed schools, 
 were the property of the nation, and thus they served 
 1)oth. In addition to this the majority of teachers were 
 clergymen, and that the schools should belong to the 
 (Jhurch was regarded as a matter of course, even in con- 
 .sequence of the daily devotions and of the divine service
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 211 
 
 on Sundays. At the latter the choirs of the pupils appear 
 in a white surplice, and the lessons are often read in chapel 
 by teachers who are not clergymen. The ceremony of 
 confirmation is usually performed in the chapel of the 
 school ; I was present at one, in Forest School, Waltham- 
 stow, which was performed by the Bishop of Kochester 
 with impressive solemnity. The preparation for it is often 
 left to the head-master. Dr. Arnold of Eugby himself 
 prepared his pupils for confirmation, and I now found the 
 same to be the case in several schools. It even occurs 
 that a non-Anglican head-master prepares the pupils, and 
 that his training is considered sufiicient by the bishop. 
 
 But the possession of the public schools by the Epi- 
 scopal Church has not remained unassailed in modern 
 times. I have already mentioned (p. 100) that, according 
 to the arrangements made about the endowed schools, it is 
 no longer required that the staff of teachers should profess 
 the same religious belief. The late Ministry intended to 
 leave it to the discretion of the governing bodies to lay 
 down rules about religious instruction. Considering the 
 composition of these bodies several schools thought that 
 their connection with the Church was in danger of beinc 
 thereby dissolved. The present Ministry took up the 
 question with greater caution, and ordained everywhere 
 to inquire as to what was in accordance with the statutes 
 and with the demonstrable or probable intention of the 
 founder. This was not always as clear as it is, e.g., in 
 St. Paul's School, London, whose founder himself was Dean 
 of St, Paul's, and dedicated the school to the Child Jesus 
 (Luke ii. 47), whence for a long time it bore the inscrip- 
 tion : " Schola catechizationis puerorum in Christi Optimi 
 Maximi fide et bonis literis." — Wherever the founder had 
 
 P 2
 
 212 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 been a clergyman of tlie English Cliiircli, and wherever he 
 had desired in his school religious instruction and divine 
 worship, it was assumed that it should be only that of the 
 English Church, even though nothing definite was said 
 about it. All the schools established by Edward VI. with 
 the funds of the dissolved chantries were connected with 
 the Church ; this consequently could not be overlooked 
 in his school at Birmingham. If the statutes say nothing 
 about religion, and if there is no ground for any conjec- 
 tures, the practice of the last one hundred years is to be 
 continued. 
 
 The above-mentioned attempts to disturb the ancient 
 possession of the schools by the Church are connected 
 with the attacks to which the English State Church in 
 its privileged position is now exposed. Whoever casts 
 a glance at the political and economical movements in 
 England during the last fifty years, cannot be surprised 
 to find that the waves of liberalism roll on against the 
 Church with increased vehemence, and that the cry for 
 disestablishment is becoming louder and louder. 
 
 The fact that in many English schools, especially in 
 the great boarding establishments, the Saturday is a 
 holiday, may be regarded as a preparation for the Sunday, 
 to gather strength as it were, and there is indeed need 
 of strength to get through the Sunday. I have passed 
 a Sunday in such an institution, and the impression 
 remaining in my memory is that of a wearisome mental 
 effort ; the amount of prayers and Bible lessons, be- 
 ginning before breakfast, then the forenoon, afternoon, 
 and evening services at church, and then again at home, 
 18 so great that, although the beautiful singing of hymns 
 proauced a pleasing change, it nevertheless cannot be
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 213 
 
 supposed that the young should have derived from it edifi- 
 cation only. It cannot be otherwise : by such an accumuLa- 
 tion, the joractice becomes troublesome, and it gradually 
 blunts the feelings, and becomes a merely habitual external 
 action, or rather a passive indifference. This is utterly 
 opposed to our German Protestant conceptions of the 
 holiness of divine worship, and to our jiews as to the 
 amount of spiritual food that youthful souls can receive 
 for their inner development, however much we may value 
 their growing into Christian habits. I have no doubt 
 that in England too, many educational establishments act 
 dijBferently. But the arrangements of divine worship in 
 the English Church may easily lead the school also into 
 excess. 
 
 I am well aware what a treasure the English nation 
 has in its Book of Common Prayer, and I well know 
 what blessed effects it has produced on many generations, 
 and how deeply it has penetrated into the life of the 
 people ; all this is beyond my praise, and I consider the 
 absence of fixed forms to be irreconcilable with the idea 
 of the Church, or with that of gospel freedom. But I am 
 equally convinced that the work of the Keformation is 
 not completed for ever, but must be progressive. The 
 ecclesiastical conditions of England clearly show the con- 
 sequences of the fact that the guardians of the Church 
 have disregarded this, and that with their stagnation in 
 the old formalism they have not allowed themselves to be 
 disturbed either by the movements of Methodism, or in 
 more recent times by Dr. Arnold's principles of eccle- 
 siastical reform. But when I am told that the service of 
 the English Church, such as it is, is nevertheless dear to 
 the congregations, I do not dispute it ; but I do maintain
 
 214 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 that very many do not truly love it, but follow it as a 
 thing to which they have become accustomed. The length 
 of the liturgy, its many repetitions, but especially the 
 chanting of long psalms, during which you cannot retain 
 the meaning of a single verse, can after all have only 
 the value of an opus operatiim, which is as opposed to the 
 gospel as to the spirit of the Keformation. 
 
 The form of the English Church is a compromise between 
 Romanism and Protestantism. It is very shortsighted to 
 believe that Henry VIII. made the Eeformation through 
 his regal power ; it is the same mistake as if you were 
 to describe the Magna Charta as the cause of English 
 liberty ; it was not its cause, but its effect. The king's 
 power, however, had in so far a decided influence upon 
 the Eeformation as he compelled it to stop half-way. 
 The obvious consequence of this arresting its progress, 
 in which people acquiesced, was the ever-increasing 
 dissent from the State Church, and the formation of sects, 
 which in their variety are surpassed only by those of 
 America. If therefore we consider the numerical rela- 
 tions, the Episcopal Church is in point of fact no longer 
 the national Church of England. Other consequences 
 are the increasing conversions to Eomanism, the growing 
 number of Eomish churches, chapels, monasteries, nun- 
 neries, and schools. It rarely happens that a Dissenter 
 becomes a Eoman Catholic. But the English Church 
 has remained standing with one foot in Eomanism, and if 
 we now witness such ritualistic innovations which imitate 
 the Eomish practices with processions, incense, &c., and 
 which we now see in numerous churches, many persons in 
 the false belief that these are the forms of the primitive 
 Church, allow themselves to be drawn into them almost
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 215 
 
 unconsciously. What sad stories of conversions have of 
 late been brought before the public ! * Besides the other 
 allurements of the Eoman Church, the English mind is 
 also impressed by its imposing external unity, extending 
 over the whole earth, as compared with the divisions of 
 Protestantism. 
 
 But the desertion from the Church is a leap into the 
 dark ! When one sees how many, more especially men, 
 go through the customary forms of divine service, with- 
 out taking any real part in it, one cannot be surprised at 
 its ending in indifferentism. A wide-spread Deism turns 
 away from that which is the essence of Christianity. Of 
 the two works opposed to each other, ' Ecce Homo,' 
 attributed to J. Seeley, now Professor of History in Cam- 
 bridge, and ' Ecce Deus ' by Dr. J. Parker, the former has, 
 I believe, been far more extensively read than the latter, 
 and this is not owing to its insinuating style alone. There 
 is a large number of men who can see in Christianity 
 nothing but an important step in civilisation, for which 
 custom demands respect. In like manner the idea of an 
 atheistic materialism has numerous advocates in England ; 
 but it is the wide-spread and strong religious habit of 
 the people that prevents its open avowal, which we witness 
 in Germany. 
 
 Even before this England has had teachers whose 
 doctrines were calculated to alienate the people from 
 Church and Christianity, and enough of their teaching was 
 
 * In one of them the English Church had the humiliation of hearing 
 the Uomish party say, "Tu I'as voulu! As long as members of the 
 Church of England are in the hahit of imitating the Eoman devotion of 
 celebrating Mass, invoking the saints, oral confession, reciting the 
 rosary, and the like, conversions will follow, which, sudden astliey may 
 appear, are but the necessary consequences of such a line of conduct."
 
 216 GEiniAX LETTERS 
 
 imported into Germany during the last century, but the 
 effect of such doctrines has never penetrated deeply into 
 the English nation. We must not allow ourselves to be 
 misled by observing that many things in their religious 
 habits have become empty forms, e.g., the often completely 
 unintelligible and rapid saying of grace before and after 
 dinner, or the forms of taking leave in the evening, 
 when immediately after joyous conversation one hears, 
 " Kemember me in your prayers " in the sense of the 
 ordinary good-bye ! But the fact that in the ecclesias- 
 tical life of the English also many things have become 
 mere mechanical habits, does not justify us in general to 
 speak of hypocrisy, as is sometimes done. Where has 
 that which is sacred been preserved from becoming a 
 mere external form ? Caricatures of it exist everywhere. 
 There still exists, nevertheless, a widespread earnest reli- 
 gious feeling in the English people, and a faith active in 
 charity. In the midst of all external habits, the Gospel 
 is still to numberless people a divine power, and in very 
 many houses the whole family life is still based upon it. 
 Whoever lives in the country, and carefully observes, will 
 discover efforts and works of Christian charity which are 
 perhaps not surpassed in any other country in extent, 
 in readiness to sacrifice, and in persevering personal 
 devotion. During the last two years, you may hear com- 
 plaints everywhere in England, as in other countries, 
 about the stagnation of trade, the want of employment, 
 and the lowness of wages ; but the incomes of the British 
 Bible Society and of the Missionary Societies, have in 
 the same years been larger than during the preceding 
 years ; and ultliough we must admit that England is richer 
 than Germany, yet for these and many other charitable 
 
 I
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 217 
 
 objects considerably more, proportionately, is given in 
 England. 
 
 The tendency towards Eomanism, which has in recent 
 times shown itself more than before, does not justify the 
 inference that the English people are abandoning their 
 Protestantism. These are only isolated phenomena in 
 the np and down movements of the waves of historical 
 development ; they have but small influence on the whole, 
 and cannot be regarded as proofs of any change in 
 the fundamental features of the national character of 
 the English, which is eminently Protestant. If they 
 would or could tolerate a dominion of the papacy, with 
 its present tendency, they would cease to be Englishmen. 
 
 The interest in religious questions is very active among 
 them, and I have often had opportunities of taking part 
 in conversations of this kind. A merchant, in whose 
 family I spent a day in his country place, soon put to 
 me the question : " What do you think of our way of 
 spending the Sunday?" I did not make a secret of my 
 opinion, which I had before hinted at. What he replied 
 to me in the course of our further conversation may be 
 condensed in the following words : I am not surprised 
 that you speak of exaggeration and its dangers ; but the 
 matter with us stands differently from what it does with 
 you on the continent. I have, at an early period, come 
 to see that life without religion is desolate and empty. 
 No religion is without mystery, and corresponding with it 
 there is a mystic aspiration in every human heart. This 
 aspiration of the heart towards God, like every natural 
 disposition when left unused, may gradually die away. 
 To reproach a man with whom this is the case would 
 be as unfair as to blame one who has weak eyes, or is
 
 218 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 deprived of a sense without any fault of his own ; but 
 you cannot come to an understanding with such a one on 
 matters which presuppose this sense, nor can you discuss 
 religion witli one who has no other organ for it than a 
 man may have for the study of natural science or for 
 business undertakings ; religion in this case signifies 
 quite different things. But we are in England, and, con- 
 sidering the all-absorbing business of the day and the 
 week, and the outward restlessness of our public life, we 
 are in the greatest danger of having the susceptibility of 
 our inner life injured. We therefore consider it whole- 
 some and necessary to devote one entire day out of the 
 seven to that inner life ; we need it as our spiritual diet. 
 
 The same man thought that we were threatened by 
 another danger. He entertained the opinion, which is 
 very general in England, that German theology had lost 
 the right path. " It has," said he, " lost its influence on 
 the life of the nation through its abstract theories, which 
 are foreign to the religious life of the people. Your 
 theology seems to forget that the human mind has more 
 than one door through which it has intercourse with the 
 spiritual world ; pure intellect does not stand sentinel at 
 each. The power of faith is the strongest vital power 
 of every nation ! and the religious and moral truths 
 which originate in it, have as much strength and right 
 for the whole of human existence as scientific truths 
 have in their domain ; and I also consider the educa- 
 tion of the young, in which this point is overlooked, to 
 be a mistake." 
 
 Although I could not but agree with him in this, yet I 
 could not admit that he possessed a sufficient knowledge 
 of German theology ; he generalised too quickly from
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 219 
 
 special theological works, and from special facts which 
 had become known to him, with which it was not difficult 
 to contrast others of a different kind. 
 
 He looked with sadness at the conversions to Eomanism, 
 but he did not regard them with any apprehension. 
 " Old Puritanism was an excess of virtue in the English 
 people," said he, " and I do not wish it to be revived ; but, 
 believe me, if things go on as they have been during the 
 last few years, the time is not far distant when the spirit 
 of Cromwell will again rise against the secret plottings of 
 Popery." 
 
 When I remember my observations made in former 
 times, I must confess that the method of preaching in the 
 English Church has acquired a more vigorous life. It 
 was formerly thought necessary to read the sermon, but I 
 have now observed this practice only in rare cases ; and 
 — I do not know whether it was only an accident that I 
 heard such sermons in several j)laces — the expounding of 
 the Word of God generally directed the minds of the 
 congregation to a trustful and joyous activity. It would 
 be a narrow view to trace this to the disposition of the 
 English mind, which is everywhere drawn towards 
 active life. I think it corresponds with the spirit of 
 the Gospel, and ought, also, more to be considered in 
 the education of the young. Some years ago, when a 
 reading-book for elementary schools, composed in a pre- 
 eminently Christian spirit, attracted general attention 
 on account of a story about a " Boy Veit," though it was 
 related in an awkward manner, I examined the book, and 
 found that it deserved much greater blame than praise, be- 
 cause its Christianity was too passive, and because children 
 did not meet in it the joyous and encouraging tone of:
 
 220 GEEMAN LETTERS 
 
 "Lift up your hands !" it taught more resignation than 
 elevation. 
 
 The English freedom of individual action may be 
 observed also in the English Church, especially in 
 the exceedingly large number of different hymn books 
 which are in common use. I was much pleased to 
 find in them many a successful translation from the 
 treasury of our German hymns ; in like manner several 
 of our choral melodies have been introduced. Some of 
 the best recent translations of German hymns are found 
 in the ' Hymns from the Land of Luther,' published 
 in 1863. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 The Position of Teachers — Their Preparation, Examination, Ap- 
 pointment, Salaries, Pensions — The Profession of Teacher. 
 
 Scarhoro^ifjh. 
 I HAVE hitherto touched but lightly upon the office of 
 teachers in the higher schools, and the circumstances 
 of teachers in general. The importance of the question 
 demands that I should enter somewhat more minutely 
 upon some of its aspects. 
 
 The proper preparation of teachers for their special 
 calling, as may be easily understood, has been recognised 
 as one of the first necessities in the general revision of 
 school affairs ; it is entirely wanting. " Ours is the only 
 highly intellectual profession," says a head-master, " for 
 which men are supposed to bo sufficiently educated with- 
 out the slightest professional training."* But what is to 
 
 * Similarly another says: "A classical teacher enters upon his
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 221 
 
 be done ? Where and how is the preparation to be made, 
 and who is to direct it ? As regards elementary schools 
 the best success has already been attained by training 
 colleges partly maintained at the public expense. For 
 the higher schools the requisite means do not exist ; how- 
 ever, the Charity Commissioners have already expressed 
 their opinion that the application of a part of the ample 
 funds of the endowed schools to the erection of training 
 colleges would not be opposed to the objects of the 
 foundation. But how far would this avail ? and in general 
 are training colleges as necessary for the higher schools 
 as they are for the lower ones? Those who deny this 
 sometimes appeal to Germany. It is one of the erroneous 
 conceptions of our school system to suppose that in 
 Germany there is no preparation for the teachers in 
 higher schools. That which does exist is, indeed, little, 
 considering the extent of our higher school system, and 
 does not attract much attention. 
 
 Attempts have been made in England, as has been 
 done with us, to supply the place of training colleges 
 by placing young candidates under experienced and able 
 teachers where they might learn the art of teaching 
 by direct observation, and under the guidance of their 
 masters. But no great progress has been made on account 
 of the very want of good teaching powers. The candidates 
 were always called away too soon, and were, moreover, 
 obliged to accept a paid situation in order to support 
 
 duties as soon as he has taken his degree as a Bachelor of Arts, without 
 undergoing any professional training, without attending any course of 
 lectures on education, without having read any book on the subject. 
 He is supposed to conform to the traditions of the establishment to 
 whicii he attaches himself."
 
 222 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 themselves. For the same reason it has not been possible 
 to introduce the year of probation (Probejahr), although it 
 is considered very desirable. 
 
 To gain the special object in question, it was natural to 
 think of the universities, the more so as in recent times 
 Oxford and Cambridge have done so much to promote 
 education. But both universities have in the meantime 
 declined to take the matter up ; moreover, the minutes 
 of the Headmasters' Conferences show that it is by no 
 means the general conviction that Oxford and Cambridge 
 are suitable places for preparing young men for the 
 office of teachers, because, after all, the acquisition of 
 knowledge does not make a good teacher. In the mean- 
 time two Scottish universities have taken at least one 
 step in advance ; at Edinburgh and at St. Andrews 
 chairs of pedagogy have been established. 
 
 In the diflferent discussions on this subject the idea of 
 Training Colleges has always met with most favour. To 
 promote this object there has been formed, among others, 
 a " Committee for promoting the Establishment of Training 
 Colleges for Masters of Schools, higher than elementary." 
 It is headed, among others, by Lord Lyttleton, Sir J. P. 
 Kay Shuttleworth, and Canon H. G. Rohmson." * The 
 first lately established institution for this purpose is 
 the Cathedral College of Bristol, a training college in 
 accordance with the doctrines of the Church of England ; 
 the subjects taught show that it is mainly intended to 
 train teachers for middle-class schools. 
 
 A special examination for the office of teachers in higher 
 
 * This member of the Charity Commission in the Endowed Schools 
 Department has published, in 1875, ' Suggestions of training Teachers 
 for Secondary School:-.'
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 223 
 
 schools does not exist in England, if we except tlie 
 arrangements made by tlie College of Preceptors for 
 candidates; but this is a self-constituted examining 
 body (compare p. 127). In general not much is expected 
 from special examinations instituted by the universities, 
 even supposing they consented to undertake them ; they 
 might indeed, it is said, ascertain the amount of know- 
 ledge possessed by a candidate, but not as to whether he 
 understands how to instruct and educate boys and girls. 
 
 In these circumstances teachers are appointed upon 
 the ground of testimonials which have no reference to the 
 special requirements of the office of teacher, such as uni- 
 versity certificates, or have no ofiicial character like those 
 granted by the College of Preceptors,* or lastly, are only 
 attestations and recommendations given by teachers or 
 private persons. Now if we consider that even the B.A. 
 degree (see p. 135) confers the full qualification for the 
 ofiice of teacher, the demands made in England cannot be 
 compared at all with those made in Grermany. It scarcely 
 requires to be stated that the numerous private schools 
 which are perfectly independent in their appointment of 
 teachers make still humbler claims. I have often heard 
 complaints about the want of well-qualified teachers. The 
 Koyal Commissioners for the Endowed Schools recom- 
 mended that at least in these schools no one should be 
 appointed who did not possess a university degree or a 
 satisfactory certificate. Head-masters also say, " If the 
 state protects us from quack physicians, the state is also 
 bound to protect us from quack teachers." But they 
 must often do as well as they can ; the number of 
 
 * " In England not a single certificate for teaching is given by public 
 authority professedly to teachers in schools above the primary schools."
 
 224 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 teachers does not increase in proportion to the growing 
 want.* 
 
 In Scotland men who have studied at a university very 
 often undertake the management of parochial or elemen- 
 tary schools, on account of the handsome salaries which 
 are derived in part from charitable endowments. One of 
 the most remarkable of these is the Dick Bequest. James 
 Dick, at his death in 1828, left a sum of money, now 
 amounting to 120,000/., with a view that the interest of 
 this sum should, among other things, be devoted to increase 
 tlie salaries of the parochial schoolmasters of the counties of 
 Aberdeen, Banff, and Moray ; something similar is done at 
 the Kloster-Gymnasium in Berlin from Streit's endowment. 
 The trustees of the Dick Bequest have made it a condition 
 that this considerable addition to the salary shall be re- 
 ceived only after an examination in Latin, Greek, Mathe- 
 matics, and Natural Science. The rich bequest of John 
 Ferguson (1856) is likewise applied to benefit school- 
 masters. Most heads of schools in the north-eastern 
 counties of Scotland now possess a university degree. I 
 may here remind you that the Scottish parochial schools 
 in their course of instruction mostly go beyond mere 
 elementary education (see p. 59). 
 
 The procedure in forming the staff of teachers in 
 schools, which in consequence of their endowments have 
 governing bodies is, with few exceptions, as follows. The 
 governing body appoints the head-master, and he chooses 
 all the other teachers (see pp. 98, 113). In exceptional 
 
 * lu Dr. Arnold's time many of liis impils became teachers. "He 
 inspired a belief that there was a I'Oetry, a glory and a delight in 
 teaching which had been too long unobserved or neglected : but now 
 this enthusiasm has faded."
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 225 
 
 the assistant masters, college tutors, &c., are appointed 
 by the governing body. In other cases the election of 
 teachers belongs to the patrons or the proprietor of the 
 schools. 
 
 It was formerly a pretty general rule for the upper 
 teachers in public schools to be clergymen, but this 
 custom is now more and more abandoned : it is no longer 
 the general rule that " the schoolmaster must be a clergy- 
 man if he is to rise high ; " there are now only few in- 
 stitutions where this is positively required. That those 
 teachers who form an integral part of a school should 
 belong to a Christian community is a matter of course ; 
 in the case of those who attend schools only for certain 
 hours, such as to teach drawing, music, &c., no attention 
 is paid to their religious opinions. Matthew Arnold,* in 
 his report on the German institutions with which he 
 had become acquainted, disapproves, from his English 
 point of view, of the Prussian rule that the provincial 
 school authorities, before appointing or proj)osing a 
 master, have to inform themselves of his previous official 
 and unofficial conduct. In reality, however, the difference 
 between England and Prussia consists only in this, that 
 in the latter country the inquiry is made by the order 
 of an authority, whereas in England, where in the interest 
 of the school the inquiry cannot be dispensed with, it is 
 left entirely to him who has the right of appointment. 
 
 The different rank among the teachers of the same in- 
 stitution is determined by their university degrees, by the 
 appointment as regular master or assistant teacher, by 
 the subjects taught by each, by the succession of the 
 classes, and by the length of service ; but the differences 
 
 * 'Higher Schools and Universities in Germany,' 1874, 2nd edition. 
 
 Q
 
 226 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 are not marked by any special titles. All the teachers 
 are assistants of the head-master; the first of them is 
 sometimes called vice-master or second-master, after whom 
 there follows the third, fourth master, &c. Graduates 
 are externally distinguished by their gowns, which they 
 always wear during their official functions, the M.A. 
 having a hood of a different colour from that of a B.A. 
 
 There is, of course, no higher authority to confirm any 
 appointment, and all are appointed on the understanding 
 that they, may be dismissed at pleasure. As the head- 
 master may be dismissed at any time by the governing 
 body without any reasons being stated, so the other masters 
 also may be dismissed by the head-master. Some such 
 dismissals have recently created great sensation, as, e.g., 
 that of the predecessor of the present head-master of 
 Eugby, and of the head-master of the grammar school 
 at Felsted, who had held the office for twenty years ; in 
 neither case was the dismissal caused by any misconduct 
 or alleged incapacity ; similarly a master who had held 
 his office for fifteen years at Eton was dismissed by the 
 head-master. The masters may appeal to the governing 
 body, which, however, in general hesitates to disavow 
 the head-master, because he bears the responsibility for 
 the whole. " The head-master is the school ! " Both are 
 in reality responsible only to public opinion, which has 
 recently pronounced against both, when the head-master 
 of the grammar school at Cambridge dismissed a master, 
 whose great ability had been acknowledged both by 
 himself and his predecessor. The general opinion is 
 that it was done only from clerical intolerance ; it was 
 unpleasant to the head-master, a Churchman, to have 
 a Wesleyan (such was the persuasion of the teacher)
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 227 
 
 ^mong his staff. Hence this case also has done its part 
 to increase the unpopularity of the State Church. 
 
 It is said not to be a very uncommon thing for a new 
 head-master, in order to obtain fresh tools, to remove some 
 of the masters whom he finds already in office ; they must 
 get other appointments wherever they can. It certainly 
 is an invaluable advantage for a head-master that the 
 teachers cannot be imposed upon him against his wish, and 
 that he can select them according to his wants ; but on 
 the other hand a summary dismissal is often a great hard- 
 ship, particularly if, as in the Eton case, the master has 
 also a boarding house connected with the school. The 
 wish therefore which has often been expressed by teachers 
 of late years to obtain appointments, which after a period 
 of trial shall secure them against arbitrary proceedings, is 
 perfectly justifiable. 
 
 In Germany pretensions have often been made by 
 teachers which scarcely leave to the head-master the posi- 
 tion of a prunus infer pares ; in England the head-master 
 is the absolute ruler. The opposite principle prevails in 
 the burgh schools of Scotland, where the teachers, elected 
 by the patrons, are in no way subordinate to the Sector : 
 each conducts his own class independently of him. 
 
 In the Recommendations of the Public Schools Commis- 
 sion, the head-masters are recommended to hold school 
 councils with their masters. It is done in some institu- 
 tions ; but the head-master is not obliged to hold them 
 regularly, nor is he bound by any of their resolutions. 
 In their method of instructing, and in the performance 
 of their official duties in general, the teachers are not 
 superintended by the head-master : they are at liberty to 
 act as they think right and proper. The chief control 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 lies in tlie final results. It moreover rarely happens thai 
 a head-master inquires, e.g., about the punctuality with 
 which lessons are begun, &c., or that his sanction is'asked 
 when a master has occasion to request a colleague to take 
 his place. This kind of independence, and the somewhat 
 loose connection in which very often teachers of the same 
 school stand to one another, is by no means generally 
 regarded as an advantage. One teacher expressed himself 
 to me on this subject : " Yes, we are a teaching hocly, and 
 have a /iea^Z-master ; but we see very little of an organic 
 community, which you might suppose to exist among us ; 
 we have no conferences, and the character of a community 
 is hardly visible anywhere else than in our common devo- 
 tions : we are good colleagues, but every one stands in 
 reality in an isolated position." 
 
 The weekly number of lessons of one hour, which a 
 master is obliged to give, may indeed be stated according 
 to the difiTerent time-tables ; but in most cases this does 
 not include all the duties of a teacher, least of all in the 
 great boarding establishments, which are connected with 
 most of the public schools. The masters, especially the 
 junior ones, have to spend much time upon preparing 
 the pupils for their lessons, as well as upon their guidance 
 and superintendence, and are in general expected to do 
 more work than is the case in Germany. This is con- 
 sidered to be the reason why teachers in England produce 
 much less in literature than the German teachers of the 
 higher schools. 
 
 The salaries of teachers are on an average propor- 
 tionately higher in England than with us ; this, however, 
 refers only to the large public schools, for in the numerous 
 private schools the pay is often incredibly low. The
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 229 
 
 income of tlie regular masters in puljlic schools is rarely 
 fixed; it very frequently depends upon the number of 
 pupils (capitation fee), and consequently varies according 
 to the larger or smaller amount of the school fees re- 
 ceived — an arrangement the disadvantages of which to the 
 school itself are pretty generally recognised. The head- 
 master and his colleagues often increase their incomes 
 considerably by boarders whom they receive into their 
 houses, or whom, in the great public schools, the head- 
 master hands over to the special care of the masters. In 
 some of the new or newly organised schools the governing 
 body, considering the dangers of making money in this 
 manner, have reserved to themselves this part of the 
 school management.* The exemption of the sons of 
 teachers from paying school fees is by no means regarded 
 as a matter of course ; in King's College, however, e.g., 
 they only pay half the fees. 
 
 Retiring j^ensions are not secured to teachers on their 
 appointment ; every one must manage his affairs in such 
 a manner as to provide for the future of himself and his 
 family, when he may no longer be able to work. As often 
 
 * " The general management is in the hands of the governing body, 
 so that it is not an object to the masters that profit should be made 
 from boarders." The following is an example of the remunerations of 
 assistant masters: in one of the larger institutions, I found a teacher of 
 German and gymnastics, who two years before had left a Prussian 
 Bealschule of the first order with a certificate of maturity, and who 
 after the lapse of another year intended to present himself in Germany 
 at the examination p7-o facilitate docendi. On my asking to what 
 extent he was engaged in the school, and what salary he received, the 
 head-master replied, that, on an average, he was daily engaged in the 
 school for two hours and a half, that he took no part in the superin- 
 tendence of the pupils, that he could calculate on about fifteen weeks' 
 holidays in the course of the year, and that he received 2001. per 
 annum. This case may have been exceptionally favourable.
 
 230 GEEMAN LETTERS 
 
 as I directed attention to tlie difference which in this 
 respect exists between the German and English school 
 arrangements, I was told : " If we were obliged to take 
 into consideration the future pensioning of masters, we 
 should be obliged to pay them lower salaries." Some 
 associations of teachers in England as well as in Scot- 
 land have in recent times publicly expressed themselves 
 very strongly upon the necessity of granting pensions. 
 A commencement has been made at Eton, where pen- 
 sions have at least been declared to be permissible, and 
 likewise in some other endowed schools, at least for the 
 head-masters.* 
 
 Teachers in England do not yet form a distinct profes- 
 sion. In Germany teaching has, during the present 
 century, become more and more a distinct profession, 
 especially since the time when, upon the suggestion of 
 F. A. Wolf, the office of teacher was separated from that 
 of the clergyman, and consequently there has arisen 
 among the teachers a consciousness of a distinct profes- 
 sion. The honour of the profession in England, in the 
 case of the higher schools, is mostly still connected with 
 the clerical character ; and teachers, as a class, do not yet 
 enjoy a full recognition, by the side of the other learned 
 professions of clergymen, lawyers, and physicians. But 
 the arrangements made regarding the staffs of teachers 
 in the endowed schools are producing some effects in this 
 
 * In the new statutes of Eton (1872), §. 19 : "It shall be lawful for 
 the governing body to award retiring pensions to deserving masters, 
 who shall have served as head-master, or for at least fifteen years as 
 masters in the school. Such pensions shall not exceed 400?. per 
 annum each, nor 4000/. per annum in the aggregate." An example of 
 other endowed schools, as well as of the salaries, may be seen in ihe 
 scheme for Wakefield given in the Apjiendix.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 231 
 
 respect also. Some symptoms, already observable in tbe 
 social position of teachers, leave no doubt tliat soon the 
 gentleman will be recognised in the teacher as such, and 
 not only in his clerical character, as has hitherto been 
 commonly the case. It is well-known that Dr. Arnold 
 demanded that a teacher should be a Christian and a 
 gentleman; and, so far as I have been able to observe, 
 this demand is very honourably realised by the masters 
 of the higher schools in England. What constitutes the 
 character of a gentleman in the wider sense of the 
 word, culture, noble manly sentiment, independence of 
 character, and a higher interest in general affairs, I 
 have observed this time, as before, wherever I have 
 come in close personal contact with teachers of the 
 higher schools. In this respect England has no reason 
 to fear a comparison with the teachers of other coun- 
 tries; nay, I regard it impossible for English teachers 
 in higher schools to use language such as we may 
 sometimes see in our own educational journals, where 
 a 'hostile personal criticism takes the place of a fair 
 judgment of facts : such a thing would be regarded as 
 ungentlemanly, unfair, and of bad taste. In England 
 the independence which every one claims for himself is 
 always combined with a respectful recognition of the 
 equal rights of others, who may perhaps occupy quite a 
 different position. It is indeed possible that the grandeur 
 of the national life in England contributes towards 
 the diffusion of this feeling. It is always a happiness 
 to take part in such a life. In my former official 
 position I have often had to deal with young ambitious 
 men among teachers, who felt the narrowness of the 
 circumstances in which they had to live in small towns
 
 232 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 like a paralysing pressure, and who dreaded to become 
 small and pedantic themselves ; and it always afforded me 
 great pleasure when I succeeded in procuring for such 
 men the opportunity at least of travelling for scientific 
 or literary purposes, whereby they might enlarge their 
 views and accustom themselves to a wider horizon. The 
 great national progress of Germany since the year 1866, 
 has had its elevating influence also upon the life of the 
 schools. I can never forget how generously many of our 
 most excellent teachers gave up situations which had 
 become dear to them, in order to be able to take part in 
 the patriotic work of the German education of the young 
 in Alsace-Lorraine. 
 
 Several educational societies, teachers' leagues, &c., con- 
 tribute much to promote and elevate among the teachers of 
 England the consciousness of their profession ; the same 
 is further done by occasional meetings of teachers to 
 discuss their common interests. 
 
 LETTEK XV. 
 
 Instruction of Girls— A Glance at America — The mixed System and 
 Female Teachers in Boys' Schools there — English Efforts to 
 increase and improve Girls' Schools — The Education of Women 
 
 in general. 
 
 Scarhorough. 
 
 The transition from the male to the female teachers would 
 be quite natural, if in England women were also engaged 
 as teachers in the higher schools for boys, as is the case in 
 the States of North America. This practice has as yet 
 not been adopted, though it has been recommended in
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 233 
 
 many quarters. Without therefore being induced by 
 such a close connection, I will nevertheless make some 
 observations upon female teachers and female instruction 
 in general, in order to complete my sketches of English 
 school affairs. 
 
 First let me say a few words upon the above-men- 
 tioned American arrangement, which will become more 
 intelligible by the " mixed school system," according to 
 which boys a,nd girls receive their instruction in com- 
 mon. This system is applied in America, not only in 
 village schools and in elementary education in general, 
 as is the case in Germany and England, but is continued 
 up to the university, especially in the Western States, as 
 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Illinois. It is supported by such 
 eminent educational authorities as Horace Mann, and is 
 constantly extending. Boys and girls receive quite the 
 same instruction, sometimes in separate parts of the same 
 class room, and sometimes sitting mixed together. There 
 are also colleges and boarding houses for both sexes, 
 where at dinner they generally sit together without 
 distinction. The opponents of such a " co-education " in 
 public schools are sometimes told that in bodily food no 
 distinction is made between boys and girls ; why then 
 should it be otherwise with mental food? And the 
 school, they say, is to be the image of a family, where 
 both sexes live in constant community. They evidently 
 do not, in using such arguments, inquire whether a school 
 ought to be and can be really such an image, and whether 
 the conditions of the life and the objects of the family 
 are not essentially different. They likewise attach no im- 
 portance to moral considerations ; the very fact that they 
 learn together, it is said, will prevent the young people
 
 23-i GEEMAN LETTERS 
 
 from forming romantic connections.* But experience 
 has often shown the contrary ; the assumed disciplinary 
 effect of making the moral temperament of boys gentler 
 through their intercourse with the other sex, and the 
 girls more energetic, seems to be limited to the latter. 
 
 There can be no doubt that girls can learn Latin, 
 Greek, Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, &c., and in 
 proper circumstances such studies may be fostered, when 
 the inclination and eminent talent for them exist, but not 
 according to the requirements of a course of instruction 
 in public schools, drawn up without distinguishing boys 
 and girls. It can be proved physiologically and psycho- 
 logically that, with few exceptions, female nature is dif- 
 ferently constituted ; eminent physicians, moreover, have 
 maintained that girls are incapable in the same years, 
 and after the same methods, of pursuing scientific studies 
 with the same success as male youths, although it may 
 often happen that in general mental development and 
 judgment a girl may be several years in advance of a boy 
 of the same age. The advocates of mixed instruction in 
 America will hardly recognise the force of the objection 
 that boys afterwards apply in office, or in life, what they 
 have learnt at the Gymnasia and Eealschulen, but that 
 girls cannot make the same use of their knowledge. For 
 there is in America no such wide difference in the problems 
 of life of the two sexes ; and what is there common to 
 both does not only consist in the general mental culture, 
 but also in the equal capacity for not a few callings, and 
 in the equal right to adopt such callings, especially that 
 of public teacher in schools for the two sexes. 
 
 * "Nothing acts as a better antidote for romance than young men 
 and women doing geometry together at 8 o'clock every morning."
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 235 
 
 We may regard tliis as a natural result of the above- 
 mentioned mixed instruction. The number of female 
 teachers, both in mixed and in boys' schools, is in America 
 already very large, and extends even to the highest 
 forms, where among other things they also teach mathe- 
 matics and the ancient languages. In the public schools, 
 including the grammar schools and colleges of St. Louis, 
 far more female than male teachers are engaged. The 
 success, especially in discipline, is highly spoken of, be- 
 cause from natural courtesy, and on account of the greater 
 female gentleness, boys more readily obey a mistress 
 than a master. It is said to happen occasionally that 
 when a class has become unruly under a master, a female 
 teacher is sent for to restore order. This reminds me of 
 this year's Commemoration at Oxford, which consists of 
 speeches and the public distribution of prizes ; on such 
 occasions the students made use of their ancient customary 
 freedom by noisily expressing from the gallery their 
 sympathies and antipathies towards individual persons 
 in the assemblage. It was this year resolved to prevent 
 the offensive scenes of former years, and the means 
 adopted for effecting this was to assign to the under- 
 graduates their places among the ladies of the audience. 
 The object was attained, and the ceremony passed off 
 satisfactorily. 
 
 Two years ago two ladies, on being one morning intro- 
 duced into my room, expressed a wish to be allowed 
 to be present during lessons in the schools of Berlin. 
 They were American ladies, of the age of about 20 to 24. 
 They had not considered it worth while to learn German 
 for the object they had in view ; their whole appearance 
 showed the self-reliance and boldness peculiar to many
 
 23G GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 American ladies. I assumed that they wished to become 
 acquainted with our higher girls' schools, and was on 
 the point of writing down for them the names of some 
 head-masters of such schools, when they gave me to 
 understand that they were particularly anxious to attend 
 the instruction in mathematics and the ancient lan- 
 guages in the Gymnasia, They could not understand my 
 astonishment at this, and said that they themselves were 
 teachers of these subjects, and that they were desirous 
 to observe the German method of teaching them. I had 
 great difficulty in inducing them to abandon their inten- 
 tion. My saying, " It is against our custom," made some 
 impression, but only for a moment : they persisted in 
 their demand. At last when I told them that I could not 
 answer for anything if they carried out their wish, and 
 asked them whether they would risk to be received with 
 immense hilarity in a class of about fifty merry boys 
 of the fifth form, they desisted. Some days later the 
 teacher of an American middle-class school appeared and 
 was readily admitted. He told me that one year's leave 
 of absence had been granted to him all the more readily, 
 because he had been able to recommend an able female 
 teacher as his substitute. The American system has its 
 eulogists in England, and in Germany also advocates are 
 not wanting ; among the latter I may mention Professor 
 Gneist in Berlin, who in a special essay on mixed 
 instruction justly states that there can be no question of 
 opening the universities to ladies, until the mixed system 
 has been introduced into the higher schools preparing for 
 them. Americans, and among them Mr. George Bancroft, 
 liave repeatedly told me : " You too will have all that ; 
 the movement proceeds from west to east." But in the
 
 ox ENGLISH EDUCATION. 237 
 
 meantime we feel it to be something un-German, and we 
 sliall not be willing to follow tbe American tendency 
 towards levelling in this direction, as long as the social 
 position of women remains with ns as different from the 
 American, as it fortunately still is. 
 
 In connection with the general movement in England, 
 for increasing and improving the schools, the desire of 
 the female sex for education, and the sympathising efforts 
 in support of it, have increased immensely. A zealous 
 supporter of these efforts once called out to his country- 
 men, " You have emancipated the slaves, the Jews, the 
 Eoman Catholics, the Dissenters, and the Irish ; let us 
 not forget the women ! " The educational question is thus 
 mixed up with the extension of the rights of women. 
 The work of Miss Mary Wolstonecraft, ' A Vindication of 
 the Plights of Women,' which was the first of a considerable 
 literature on the subject in England, bore the revolu- 
 tionary character of the age in which it appeared (1792) in 
 so marked a manner, that its effect was rather deterring 
 than otherwise. Mrs. Hannah More, who in her remark- 
 able book, ' Coelebs in Search of a Wife ' (1808), treated 
 the same subject with more tact and feminine reserve, 
 was read with much greater attention. Since that time 
 the movement for extending the rights of women in 
 England has proceeded slowly, but favourably. The 
 right of voting at municipal elections was obtained as 
 early as 1869 ; they also elect and are themselves eligible 
 for the School Boards, which have been established in 
 nearly every town. They do not yet possess the right 
 of voting for Members of Parliament ; but the bill for 
 the removal of this disability was rejected last April by 
 a majority of only 35 votes (187 against 152), Gladstone
 
 238 GERMAN LETTEES 
 
 and Disraeli voting in tlie minority. But it is not my 
 purpose here to pursue this question any further. 
 
 The education of women in England now presents a 
 very varied spectacle. On the one hand it is still limited, 
 in the sense of Isaac Taylor's ' Home Education ' (7th edit. 
 1867), to the family where a governess or a private tutor 
 gives the instruction desired by the parents. It often 
 happens that boys up to the age of twelve or thirteen 
 are instructed with their sisters by the same governess 
 even in Latin. Many other wealthy families send their 
 daughters into one of the numerous boarding schools, 
 many of which, especially the fashionable ones, both large 
 and small, are found principally in and near London, 
 and at Brighton. Several of them, in complaisant obe- 
 dience to all the wishes of mothers, are said to afford 
 instruction in all manner of " ladylike " accomplishments, 
 and a superficial education calculated only to satisfy ap- 
 pearances; others are reputed to have been eminently 
 successful with their pupils by sound instruction and a 
 thoroughly good education. The course of instruction 
 in the higher schools for girls, almost everywhere 
 includes, besides modern languages, Latin and Mathe- 
 matics, at least as optional subjects ; instruction in music, 
 for which separate payment is made, is of course given 
 everywhere. Some also, like the public schools, attract 
 attention (p. 198) by publishing a journal or magazine ; 
 I have seen one entitled ' Milton Mount Magazine ' 
 published by a girls' boarding school.* It also happens 
 
 * In an essay on holidays, Annie Martin writes : " With what a 
 sigh of relief (Iocs a girl lay down her Euclid or Virgil, and determine 
 to forget for the ensuing month tliat classics or mathematics ever had 
 any existence."
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 239 
 
 not unfrequently that girls are sent to boarding schools 
 in Germany or France, mostly for the purpose of ac- 
 quiring the languages of those countries better and more 
 easily ; but it is also looked upon as a distinction to be 
 able to provide for the education of daughters in this 
 unusual way. 
 
 The middle classes also frequently avail themselves of 
 boarding schools ; or their daughters, after having regularly 
 attended a day school of the locality, and enjoyed a short 
 period of regular instruction, are sent at the age of 
 fourteen or fifteen, for one or two years, to a " finishing " 
 school, in order to receive there the " final polish." In 
 these cases mothers are not much concerned about the 
 learning of their daughters. The lady principal of an 
 educational establishment told me, that anxious mothers 
 sometimes came to her complaining that the child was 
 always sitting at home over its books, and begged her to 
 take care to prevent the child becoming a blue. The 
 girls' schools of the Quakers and Moravians, which are not 
 exclusively attended by the children of those sects, enjoy 
 a specially good reputation. Koman Catholic nunneries 
 generally have connected with them girls' schools, both 
 for boarders and day scholars. 
 
 By far the greater number of girls' schools are private 
 undertakings ; in England they are usually conducted by 
 ladies, in Scotland more frequently by men. These in- 
 stitutions, if we consider the nature of many, are not suffi- 
 cient for the actual want. What is particularly needed 
 are good middle-class schools for girls, corresponding 
 to the higher middle-class schools or grammar schools 
 for boys. Ever since this want has made itself felt, and 
 ever since attention has been directed to the defects of
 
 240 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 female school education in general, an active zeal has mani- 
 fested itself in several places to make up in this respect 
 also for what has long been neglected. Independently 
 of the anxiety for the future of unmarried women, the 
 consideration of the duties of a mother has in this respect 
 also exercised its influence : an educated mother is of 
 more importance to the family than an educated father. 
 
 The government as far as was possible has extended 
 the School Inquiry to girls' schools also; and by the 
 Endowed Schools Act of 18G9 the governing bodies have 
 been empowered — in some cases a definite arrangement 
 has been made — to apply a portion of the endowments 
 formerly given to boys' schools only, to the instruction 
 and education of girls. Simultaneously associations have 
 been formed for the same purpose. As an example I will 
 here mention the Girls' Public Day School Company* 
 which is in connection with the National Union for im- 
 proving the education of women. This company meets 
 
 * " The intention of the company is to establish and maintain in 
 such parts of London and the provinces, as may from time to time be 
 decided on, superior day-schools at a moderate cost " (see Appendix I.). 
 Its object is in its institutions to avoid the many old defects discovered 
 by the School Inquiry Commission, " want of thoroughness and founda- 
 tion, slovenliness and showy superficiality in attention to rudiments, 
 undue time given to accomplishments, and these not taught intelli- 
 gently or in any scientific manner, want of organization." Here also 
 examinations are the main thing looked to : " If desired, pupils will 
 be prepared for such university and other examinations as may be 
 r>pen to them. A regular system of yearly examination by examiners 
 unconnected with the school will be established." In this new 
 arrangement also the head-mistresses have at once acquiesced in the 
 possibility of their being dismissed by the council. Each one on her 
 appointment has to sign a document in which, among other things, it 
 is stated : "If I am removed by the council, I will acquiesce in such 
 removal " (comp. p. 226).
 
 ON EXGLISH EDUCATIOX. 241 
 
 with much encouragement and has already established 
 twelve schools; each of them has a special governing 
 body responsible to the council of the company. These 
 new institutions are intended to give an education " as 
 sound and as thorough as that which boys now receive in 
 grammar schools of the highest class." Opportunities are 
 also offered to pupils in these schools of training them- 
 selves for the office of teachers, as is often the case in the 
 higher girls' schools in Germany. The Corporation of 
 Hutcheson's Hospital at Glasgow has opened this year 
 a new girls' school for the middle classes, in which 
 besides languages, geography, and arithmetic, bookkeeping 
 also, telegraphy, needlework, household economy and 
 cookery are taught, in order to prepare the girls not 
 only for domestic duties, but also to render them fit to 
 fill positions in the Post-office, in telegraphic and other 
 establishments where female labour is in remunerative 
 demand. 
 
 Academic and other institutions for the varied culture 
 of women and girls have been established of late years 
 in several places. Queen's College in London has existed 
 ever since 1853. There and in almost all similar institu- 
 tions the ancient languages also are taught ; the same is 
 the case in the Ladies' Educational Association connected 
 with the London and Edinburgh Universities, and in the 
 Clifton Association for the higher education of women. 
 At Cambridge classes have been opened for women, and 
 in the neighbourhood of the town there are Newham Hall 
 and Girton College, which have been established for the 
 same purpose, and are much frequented. University 
 College at Bristol has opened its lectures and exercises, 
 with the exception of the medical classes, to students of
 
 242 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 both sexes. The inventor of the Holloway pills has 
 purchased a piece of land near Eghani, not far from 
 London, for 25,000/., intending to erect upon it a ladies' 
 university, on so grand and comprehensive a scale that, if 
 it is ever carried out, it will even surpass Yassar College 
 near New York. Girls are admitted to scientific 
 examinations in nearly all the universities, and it often 
 happens that they carry oS good certificates and prizes 
 in Latin, mathematics, and natural philosophy, and some- 
 times even in Greek, chemistry, geology, logic, and political 
 economy. 
 
 The fact that the means of education are now ofi'ered 
 to females in a much ampler measure than before, again 
 shows the energy of the English people. The earnest- 
 ness and the persevering strength herein manifested is 
 deserving of admiration. The number of women distin- 
 guished by special studies in some departments of know- 
 ledge is in England very large. And it very often 
 happens that the wife is not only interested in the 
 scientific occupations of her husband, but takes an active 
 part in them. Their literary activity also is not to be 
 undervalued; for although English authoresses have 
 published very much that is worthless, still we are in- 
 debted to them for a series of excellent historical works 
 and translations ; even the Tauchnitz Collection contains 
 not a few things which surpass the merits of ordinary 
 entertaining literature, and in which the higher interests, 
 originality of conception, and excellence of style are 
 combined to such a degree that we may well admit that 
 England in productions of this kind is at present excelled 
 by no other country. But it is just this praiseworthy 
 share of English ladies in the literature of their country
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 243 
 
 that shows at the same time the limit of the female 
 mind for it. 
 
 I do not believe that in the modern striving after 
 intellectual culture, however honourable it is, the limits 
 clearly marked by nature and by the destination of the 
 sex are sufficiently considered. People have in general 
 not formed sufficiently clear ideas in regard to the object, 
 and the result is but too often out of proportion to the 
 great efforts which are expected to be made both bodily 
 and mentally. Moreover I, for my part, consider it to be 
 too dependent and narrow a conception, nay, an utter 
 mistake to imitate as far as it is in any way possible the 
 arrangements existing for the scientific education of the 
 male sex. This mistake is committed in establishing the 
 collegiate system for girls, in teaching them mostly the 
 same subjects, in following the same methods, in employ- 
 ing the same pressure to gain certificates and prizes, and 
 other things of the same kind. Many parents have no 
 eyes to see what their daughters lose for ever through 
 such a gain ; and the present academical course of study 
 is the most unsuited of all for training female teachers. 
 
 It is quite certain that the education of the two sexes 
 must have a common foundation not only in religion, but, 
 e.g., also in history and literature, if the wives are to meet 
 their husbands in understanding the great problems of 
 life. And as it would be an injurious one-sidedness to 
 develope in boys only knowledge and conscious activity, 
 so it would be an equal mistake to regard the develop- 
 ment of the feelings and of receptivity as the only 
 problem in the education of girls. On the contrary, 
 it is especially in girls that the greatest importance 
 should be attached to the clearness of their conceptions, 
 
 n 2
 
 2-14 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 because Iviiowletlge and feeling must work together to 
 produce the right volition. But it does not follow from 
 this that the plan and method of instructing girls should 
 be made as like as possible to the arrangements destined 
 for boys and youths. If we add to this the girls' own 
 eagerness to overcome what is strange and hard by 
 obstinate diligence, this often not only injures health, but 
 oftener involves the loss of the genuine feminine charac- 
 ter. To feel the correctness of this view, one must have 
 seen how crowds of girls with their books, &c., hurry to 
 the lectures — for it is lectures that are demanded above 
 all things — and one must have heard even in a railway 
 carriage how they talk about problems in natural philo- 
 sophy, while others, as I have often witnessed, diligently 
 study some Latin grammar. Englishmen themselves are 
 not unconscious that their female students also adopt 
 more and more the free ways of the Americans, and that 
 in their eagerness to learn, they often do not only 
 gain knowledge, but acquire a misdirected culture which 
 destroys the feminine character and grace. 
 
 Some months ago I went from Hastings to Battle, 
 to revisit the old abbey. The gate was still locked. 
 Awaiting its opening, I sat down on a shady bench close 
 by. The same was done by a girl of about twenty 
 with her two brothers, who were spending their holidays 
 at home, and whom she had taken to Battle to show them 
 the abbey. As two nuns happened to be passing, I asked 
 her whether there was a convent in the place. She 
 said No, and our conversation starting from this point 
 was continued for a short time, when the gate was opened, 
 and we afterwards walked for some time together in the 
 park. In our conversation I made use of a French word,
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 245 
 
 because I considered it more significant. She said, " Wliat 
 does that mean ? Pray tell it me in English." When I 
 remarked that I had thought French was taught in all 
 English girls' schools, she said she belonged to the sect 
 of the Plymouth Brethren, in whose schools there were, 
 indeed, opportunities of learning French, but that her 
 parents had not considered it necessary, and that with 
 the exception of a little mathematics, she had received 
 only the usual elementary instruction. I was astonished 
 to hear this. But notwithstanding this naive confession 
 of her ignorance, her conversation had shown me that 
 she possessed such a clear understanding, e.g., in eccle- 
 siastical matters, and such a fine taste in her judgment 
 of the architecture of the abbey, as to make on me 
 the impression of a healthy simplicity and of an har- 
 monious culture resting on a deep foundation. Her mind 
 had nothing of an acquired showiness ; everything was her 
 own and was naturally developed from within. She was, 
 moreover, free from sectarian pride, and within her 
 narrow sphere she evidently enjoyed a satisfaction which 
 many never attain in their wider spheres. This Ply- 
 mouth sister shall form the conclusion of my letter about 
 women.
 
 240 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 LETTEE XYI. 
 
 The Elementary Schools before and after the Edncation Act of 1870 
 — The Religions Difficnlty— The Birmingham League — Payment 
 by Results — The Education Act of 1876. 
 
 Sc'irboirmfih . 
 
 It is clifiracteristic of the state of element anj schools in 
 England that, after the introduction of a new order by 
 the Elementary Edncation Act in 1870, not a year has 
 passed without alterations being made in it, and that 
 Parliament during the present year's long session has 
 been engaged upon no subject so much as again with 
 elementary schools, without the discussions about it, ac- 
 cording to all appearance, having been brought to a final 
 close by the Act of 1876. We may see from this, on 
 the one hand, that in this matter the government has to 
 deal with great difficulties, and on the other, that there 
 exists both in the people and its representatives a general 
 and unceasing interest in the question about education. 
 
 In the first place, let me remind you of the following 
 facts which belong to an earlier period : Scotland, ever 
 since the Keformation, has had its parochial schools ; in 
 England the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge 
 in 1G98 made provisions for popular instruction, and 
 established a large number of schools ; an association for 
 Sunday Schools was formed as early as 1785. The 
 National Society for promoting the education of the poor 
 in the principles of the Established Church was founded 
 by Andrew Bell, and has been under the protectorate of 
 the Archbishops of Canterbury ever since 1811 ; the
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 247 
 
 Britisli and Foreign Scliool Society, which owes its 
 origin to Joseph Lancaster, has displayed extensive 
 activity since 181-4 ; this last society allows the Bible 
 to be read in its schools, but no sectarian religious in- 
 struction is given. Both these societies are supported 
 partly by the churches, and partly by private bene- 
 volence and bequests. In 1833 (see p. 48) they received 
 for the first time subsidies from the state, and in 1839 
 (see p. 91) an educational board was instituted, chiefly 
 to control these subsidies, which from the first were 
 granted on condition of the respective schools being 
 inspected by persons appointed by the state. Accord- 
 ingly the inspection of schools by the state is not the 
 result of a natural right, but of a compact : a school 
 which does not receive or take money from the state 
 cannot be superintended by it. — Ever since 1840, the 
 Wesleyans have a special committee for the management 
 of their schools. Ever since 1843 the National Society 
 has had some training schools for male and female 
 teachers. In 1844 the Ptagged School Union provided 
 for the very poorest of the population. Besides these, 
 there existed for elementary instruction many muni- 
 cipal schools as well as a large number of private ad- 
 venture schools (see p. 78). 
 
 A conviction was gradually spreading that all this 
 was no longer sufiicient for the increasing wants. I have 
 already spoken (see p. 91) about the opposition which the 
 government first met with, when it tried to treat the 
 matter as an affair of state. The discussions about it in 
 Parliament were particularly excited, when in the year 
 1847 a demand of 100,000?. was made for elementary 
 schools. In the preceding year the principle of free
 
 248 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 trade had gained its victory, and many peojile could not 
 make up their minds at the time to give up the same 
 principle in the department of public, although only 
 elementary, instruction. The whole nation seemed to be 
 divided into two parties for and against the measure. 
 Macaulay, in 1847, delivered one of his best speeches in 
 Parliament in support of the bill. His principal argu- 
 ments, which have been constantly repeated in the subse- 
 quent discussions on the subject, are derived from the 
 necessity of national security against the consequences of 
 ignorance,* from the right of a child to be instructed, 
 even against the carelessness or the will of its parents. 
 Three interests are to be considered, that of the father, 
 that of the child, and that of the state : the father alone, 
 it is said, has not the right to determine, for every child 
 born in England is heir to the rights of all Britons, but 
 the ability to participate in them can only be acquired 
 by education, and this the state must secure to it. 
 But a long time elapsed before efficient measures were 
 sanctioned by Parliament, even after the inquiries had 
 brought to light the great faults and defects of popular 
 instruction ; taxation for school purposes in particular was 
 always rejected. The ordinances issued before 1858 as 
 measures of administration by the Committee of Council 
 were collected, and form the Old Code; in 18G1 there 
 appeared a Pievised or New Code of regulations, and in 
 1870 the Pievised New Code; but in the same year the 
 above-mentioned Elementary Education Act also was 
 
 * "The arguments which show that the Government ought not to 
 leave to i^rivate people the task of providing for the national defence, 
 will equally show that the Government ought not to leave to piivate 
 people the task of j^iroviding for national education."
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 249 
 
 passed. This was at last a victory, chiefly due to the 
 energetic efforts of Mr. W. E. Forster, and by it the 
 elementary schools in England have been placed under 
 state control. It seems to me further of importance 
 to state a few facts to show the manner in which the 
 government proceeds in the matter, because it characterises 
 the condition of English schools in general. 
 
 In order to attain its object the government has divided 
 the whole country into school districts, England and 
 Wales into eighty, of which London alone has ten, and 
 Scotland into thirteen ; each district has to maintain a 
 certain number of elementary schools in proportion to its 
 population. The business connected with them has to be 
 undertaken by school boards, whose election (both active 
 and passive) belongs to the rate-paying inhabitants of the 
 place without distinction of sex. A school-rate is intro- 
 duced in the localities belonging to the school board to 
 defray the expenses ; besides this the state on certain 
 conditions grants subsidies. No instruction is given 
 gratis ; the fees for very poor children are paid by the 
 school boards, and in Scotland by the parochial boards. 
 These boards representing as they do the will of the place 
 after their election, may make school attendance com- 
 pulsory ; they have also to fix the amount of the school- 
 rate. The preparation of teachers for their ofiice takes 
 place in training colleges established for the purpose. 
 The instruction is limited to reading, writing, arithmetic, 
 and biblical knowledge. The examination of the schools 
 and training colleges and to report upon them are the 
 functions of inspectors appointed by the state. I will add 
 a few more observations about all this. 
 
 To carry out the plan of organisation here indicated, it
 
 250 GERMAX LETTERS 
 
 was above all things necessary to have a sufficient number 
 of school-houses, efficient teaching powers, and the co- 
 operation of the school boards of the locality itself for both 
 objects. As the matter is one of great importance, many 
 are ambitious to become members of a school board, and 
 the periodical elections each time cause much agitation. 
 They consist of five or more members, according to the 
 extent of the locality. Clergymen are not excluded, and 
 have their natural influence in the boards. It is an 
 unpaid honorary office ; the expenses connected with the 
 election and administration are very considerable. In 
 Glasgow, e.g., the first constitution of the school board 
 cost 10,000Z. Here at Scarborough the first election in 
 1S71 caused an expenditure of about 134/. Until last 
 year 1434 school boards had already been elected in 
 England and Wales. 
 
 Many of them proceeded with great zeal, especially in 
 the erection of the new school-houses, for which they were 
 allowed to contract loans. A large number of buildings 
 rose in a short time ; they are built in different styles, 
 but are everywhere an ornament to the locality. It was 
 first necessary to have the house in order to be able to 
 regulate, and in case of need to enforce attendance. The 
 amount of space required could in every case be calculated 
 only approximately ; but these calculations were in many 
 cases fallacious, and hence in some districts more and 
 larger school-houses were built than were required. 
 Special inspectors, selected from the school attendance 
 committee of the board, control in every district the 
 attendance at school. They may stop every child in the 
 street between the ages of five and thirteen and ask it to 
 what school it belon.f's. If the child names one that is
 
 ox ENGLISH EDUCATIOX. 251 
 
 not a board school, it may be taken before a magistrate 
 and be examined. If the result is satisfactory the child 
 and the school are no longer interfered with : the school in 
 that case is considered " efficient ; " if not, the school is 
 examined (private schools however often refuse to submit 
 to an examination), and if it does not satisfy the demands 
 made upon it within a given time, and also declines to be 
 placed under the board, the school is abolished. In order 
 to avoid this, and also to rival the board schools and, if 
 possible, to excel them, the other schools (they are to a 
 large extent supported by voluntary contributions and are 
 comprised under the name of voluntary schools) take much 
 trouble to produce favourable results, for which piirpose 
 they often employ teachers who are better prepared and 
 therefore also require higher salaries. But both the 
 supporters of English independence and the friends of the 
 Church (including those of the National Society) prefer 
 them to the state schools, not a few continue as before to 
 pay not only the school rate, but their contribution for 
 the support of voluntary schools, which they are not 
 obliged to do. It may therefore happen that a new 
 school-house built by the board is almost empty, while 
 a voluntary school in the neighbourhood is quite filled. 
 On the other hand, cases have occurred in which the 
 new school-houses were not sufficient, e.g., when the 
 ragged schools had been prematurely abolished, in con- 
 sequence of which it was impossible immediately to 
 provide space for thousands of children. The discontent 
 of the poor was all the greater, because in the charity- 
 schools the children had not only received instruction, 
 but in case of need also food and clothing. All such 
 circumstances have prevented the useful institution of
 
 252 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 school boards from becoming popular with the ratepayers, 
 on account of the supposed unnecessary expenditure, and 
 with the lower classes, on account of the withdrawal of 
 the above-mentioned charities, as well as on account of the 
 strictness with which regular attendance at school is 
 enforced. This last grievance is severely felt in manu- 
 facturing and country districts, where the family has 
 often to calculate upon the earnings of children. 
 
 The school boards are empowered to propose bye-laws 
 for their respective districts, but they require the approval 
 of the Committee of Council and the Koyal sanction. In 
 this manner, London, Liverpool, Manchester, and other 
 large towns have been enabled to introduce the compulsory 
 system ; and according to the Eeport of the Education 
 Department for the present year, this is already the law 
 for 46 per cent, of the population of England and Wales. 
 Wherever it is introduced, persistent violation of it is 
 punished by fines and eventually even by imprisonment. 
 It will, however, require a long time before the English 
 people become accustomed to such compulsion ; and even 
 the most zealous friends of reform have not yet ventured 
 to make it a general law. Even Milton has expressed 
 himself in favour of compulsory education. 
 
 What is most offensive to many in the Act of 1870 is 
 its independence of the Church. It limits the duty of 
 parents regarding the instruction of their children in the 
 same manner as is now done again by the law of 1876 ; 
 it determines that " it shall be the duty of the parent of 
 every child to cause such child to receive efficient elemen- 
 tary instruction in reading, writing and arithmetic," and 
 nothing else ; school inspectors are not required at all to 
 take account of the religious instruction. The Act of
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 253 
 
 1876 touclies upon religions instruction only negatively 
 in these words: "No religious catechism or religious 
 formulary which is distinctive of any particular denomina- 
 tion shall be taught in the school." This clause has been 
 differently conceived and interpreted. It may mean that 
 the school, though excluding sectarian instruction, should 
 yet give instruction in the Bible, but also that it should 
 be left to the school either to give such instruction or not 
 according to its discretion. Some understand the clause 
 to mean that by it not only the Apostles' Creed, but also 
 the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments are ex- 
 cluded, a circumstance with which the government has 
 been repeatedly reproached in Parliament ; others regard 
 these three parts of the catechism as admissible and act 
 accordingly, because, they say, all Christian denomina- 
 tions are agreed upon them. In consequence of this un- 
 certainty the schools, in regard to religion, act in very 
 different ways. 
 
 The voluntary schools, recognised as eJSicient, enjoy 
 greater liberty in this respect, although in case of need 
 they also receive state support. I have visited such 
 a school at Stratford in Essex ; it contained, in four 
 classes, about five hundred children, boys and girls, and, 
 thanks to the energy of the principal teacher, was in 
 excellent order and activity. It was an educational 
 pleasure to see how he understood the art of governing 
 the masses and keeping up the attention of every child, 
 and how the boys singing pretty songs marched into and 
 out of the school. From one point in the city I had seen 
 seven churches of seven different denominations, and I 
 accordingly presumed that many children would be ex- 
 cluded from the religious instruction of the school, which
 
 254 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 is given by teachers belonging to the English Church. 
 When I inquired about this I learned that such was by 
 no means the case ; the school is so dear to all, that they 
 gladly allow their children to take part in it and even to 
 learn the catechism. The religious difficulty therefore is 
 here entirely out of the question ; in other places how- 
 ever the difficulty is greater if the personal character of 
 the teacher and of the local clergyman are less tolerant. 
 
 In order to evade this difficulty, many deem it necessary 
 to exclude from the . school all religious instruction, and 
 even the reading of the Bible. An association called the 
 Birmingham League makes the greatest efforts to effect 
 this. Its principles are acknowledged by many, not indeed 
 from religious indifference, but by men of a decidedly 
 religious character ; they do so on the principle that the 
 general elementary school as such ought to be a national 
 school, and that in such a school nothing ought to be 
 taught upon which the nation is not agreed, consequently, 
 no religion. Acknowledging the necessity of a religious 
 education of the young, they would leave it entirely to the 
 Sunday Schools and to the various religious communities, 
 and also allow the school-rooms to be used for the separate 
 religious instruction at times when they are not wanted for 
 general school purposes. When I remarked that such a 
 purely secular education did not realise the idea of an 
 elementary school and of the education of the young in 
 general, that the isolated religious instruction was thus un- 
 connected with any other, and that in many cases it would 
 not be attended, as it is not like others obligatory, the 
 advocates of the League could not but agree with me, but 
 they, nevertheless, considered the absolute separation of 
 the school from the Church as the only means by which the 
 
 i
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 255 
 
 school would be enabled to carry on its work in peace 
 and unity. 
 
 Many sujiporters of the same view also advocate the 
 absolute necessity of carrying out the compulsory system, 
 and of the state undertaking the entire management of 
 the elementary schools. Others wish to exclude religious 
 instruction from state supported schools, because they 
 are opposed to the episcopal state Church whose intrusion 
 into the schools they dread. These views have lately 
 been expressed by a Manchester Nonconformist Conference 
 and by the Kent Congregational Association.* In order to 
 facilitate matters for children who, according to the wishes 
 of their parents, do not take part in what the school 
 offers as religious instruction, it has been arranged that in 
 board schools religious lessons should always be placed at 
 the beginning or the end of the regular school-hours. The 
 opponents of state schools do not cease drawing the atten- 
 tion of the people to the dangers involved in the abandon- 
 ment^ of the old English custom, according to which 
 education and religion have always been closely united. 
 Such a one who had publicly spoken of a " Godless 
 education " in board schools, recently received as a reply 
 from the Chairman of the London School Board the 
 remark that out of one hundred and twenty-six thousand 
 school children only one hundred and twenty-four had 
 excluded themselves from biblical , instruction, and that 
 too not because parents availed themselves of the con- 
 science clause of the law, but for other more external 
 
 * " That no national system of education should be maintained 
 except one which provides for united secular instruction, and leaves 
 religious instruction to educational agencies which are indepeudent of 
 state supijort."
 
 256 GEEMAN LETTERS 
 
 reasons. Another inquiry of the government has shown 
 that last year eighty-three per cent, of the school boards 
 in England and Wales had adopted the system of the 
 British and Foreign Society, according to which the Bible 
 in schools is either merely read, or read and expounded. 
 The so-called London compromise, which further allows 
 prayers to be learned and hymns to be sung, aims pretty 
 much at the same thing. 
 
 I must here supplement an earlier statement (see p. 48) 
 about the large expenditure for elementary instruction, 
 by mentioning the different sources from which the means 
 are derived. Last year, England, Scotland, and Ireland 
 received altogether : 
 
 From the public funds . . £2,228,470 
 
 From voluntary contributions . 897,858 
 
 From school fees . . . 1,198,098 
 
 From endowments . . . 118,545 
 
 From the school rate . . 846,065 
 
 Total . . £5,289,036 
 
 For the present year only the state grant can be 
 mentioned, which amounts — 
 
 For England to . . . £1,707,055 
 
 For Scotland . . . 438,227 
 
 For Ireland .... 645,949 
 
 Total . . £2,791,231 
 
 Dissatisfaction with the school rate is often expressed.
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 257 
 
 especially as its screw is going deeper and deeper ; in 
 London it amounts this year already to four and a half per 
 cent, on the value of a house or dwelling. Ever since the 
 establishment of this rate the voluntary contributions have 
 been decreasing ; for voluntary schools were established 
 partly for the purpose of having some school at all events, 
 and partly of having one of a special ecclesiastical cha- 
 racter. The former reason is now removed by the board 
 schools, to which people are obliged to contribute ; hence 
 it is quite natural that the supply of voluntary contribu- 
 tions has everywhere diminished, so that on the whole the 
 number of voluntary schools decreases from year to year. 
 Parliament also considered it expedient everywhere 
 to exact school fees; it was above all things desired to 
 promote more regular and more diligent attendance, and 
 experience showed that to give instruction gratis does not 
 produce such a result. According to the circumstances of 
 the parents, from one penny to nine pence per week may 
 be demanded. The fact that the state gives such large 
 grants as those mentioned above for elementary instruc- 
 tion, is censured by those who are of opinion that parents 
 are as much bound to have the children whom they bring 
 into the world instructed, as to provide them with food 
 and clothing ; they maintain that the state ought to sub- 
 sidise only the very poorest, as is the case in modern 
 Greece, where university instruction is gratuitous, but not 
 the elementary instruction. In England the government 
 believes that for the present it cannot attain its objects 
 without offering rewards for a diligent attendance and 
 zeal in learning. Its grants are given in proportion to 
 the " attendance and proficiency of the scholars, the 
 qualifications of the teachers and the state of the schools." 
 
 s
 
 258 GEEMAN LETTERS 
 
 The grants are determined by the results of the examina- 
 tions hekl by the inspectors of schools, and for these 
 examinations there are six different standards. The 
 first demands only the simplest elements in reading, 
 writing, and arithmetic ; the second enters a little upon 
 the subjects of grammar, geography, and history ; and in 
 these six subjects the requirements gradually rise up to 
 the sixth standard. Kewards in money are given for 
 the best performances, and for the most regular attend- 
 ance at school. This is what is called "payment by 
 results," which was already known in the New Code of 
 1861. The money thus gained goes to the funds of the 
 Board ; the London School Board quite recently had 
 already obtained the sum of 6,085?. 
 
 Now what about the teachers ? Training colleges with 
 schools for practice, mostly boarding schools, have been 
 established for their training; their arrangements are 
 left to the different religious communities ; but the state 
 grants ample subsidies. Last year the training colleges 
 of the English Church had 1787 pupils ; the expenses 
 for each of them are calculated at 160?. per annum. The 
 British and Foreign Society had 243 pupils in their train- 
 ing colleges. In the first instance, those aspiring to the 
 ofiice of teacher are employed as pupil teachers (in Scot- 
 land they are sometimes called apprentice teachers), some- 
 times, when no more than thirteen years old, e.g.^ as 
 superintendents of infant schools : at the age of eighteen, 
 after having passed an examination, they may be admitted 
 into a training college, and later on, after a second ex- 
 amination and after passing through a period of proba- 
 tion, they may be appointed as teachers. They remain 
 generally two years in a training college. In the final
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 259 
 
 examination, certificates of a lower or higher degree may- 
 be obtained. Similar institutions have been founded for 
 training female teachers. 
 
 The original intention was to grant state support only 
 to schools with trained teachers. But as a sufficient 
 number of these did not exist it was found necessary to 
 admit others also who, without the preparation of a 
 training college, had obtained a certificate of qualification, 
 i.e., certificated teachers. As notwithstanding this there 
 Avas still a want of teachers, a third class of male and 
 female teachers was recognised who were neither trained 
 nor certificated ; they first consisted of those who were 
 not below thirty-five years of age, had been in school 
 practice for ten years, and of whose pupils at least 
 twenty had proved by an examination to have been 
 tolerably well instructed ; in 1874 these figures were 
 reduced to thirty years and fifteen pupils, and in 1876 
 even to twenty-five years and five pupils, the period of 
 school practice being of course likewise shorter than had 
 at first been demanded. This continued reduction is 
 dangerous, because it creates teachers who can only claim 
 small salaries, and are, therefore, in many schools pre- 
 ferred to abler teachers. A landed proprietor in the 
 neighbourhood of Manchester has recently placed at the 
 disposal of the school board there one hundred scholar- 
 ships of 25Z. each, to be enjoyed for three years by such 
 pupils of elementary schools as show inclination and 
 talent for the office of teacher. 
 
 The regular salaries of teachers are in some cases in- 
 creased by the payment by results, but this depends upon 
 the reports of the school inspectors about the attendance, 
 upon the results of their examinations, and the general 
 
 s 2
 
 260 GEEMAN LETTERS 
 
 condition of the school. Pensions, though to a very- 
 limited extent, are in certain circumstances granted to 
 teachers in elementary schools and training colleges. 
 
 The Education Act for Scotland of 1872 is essentially 
 the same as that for England of 1870. In England the 
 principal task of school boards is to promote " atten- 
 dance ;" in Scotland, to procure " appliance and accom- 
 modation," because, in general, children there are not 
 wanting in eagerness to learn. The number of board 
 schools in Scotland is much smaller than that of the 
 parochial and Church schools. The school fees some- 
 times vary according to the subjects taken by the pupils ; 
 hence the school board of a Scotch town recently made 
 known that the fee for instruction in reading was 10^7. 
 per month ; for reading, writing, and arithmetic. Is., and 
 if grammar and geography were added, Is. 3d. ; if Latin, 
 French, mathematics, and drawing were desired, Is, 8«rZ. 
 Such going beyond the limits of elementary schools is 
 allowed everywhere, but has nowhere been more frequent 
 than in Scotland (comp. p. 59); at present, however, 
 it is beginning to be less common. The government 
 attaches the greatest importance— and it cannot doother- 
 ■vvise — to good and successful elementary instruction, for 
 which reason many teachers confine themselves to it, in 
 order to receive for themselves and for their schools 
 greater rewards from the public funds. It is a subject 
 of complaint with patriotic Scotchmen, even in their 
 official reports, that in this way they gradually lose " a 
 characteristic and admirable feature of the old parochial 
 education of Scotland, that the highest instruction was 
 generally within the reach of the poorest child who was 
 capable of deriving benefit from it."
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 261 
 
 The educational question has unmistakably, and not 
 to its advantage, been drawn more and more into the 
 dispute of political parties ; the long parliamentary de- 
 bates upon it during the present session (1876) may be 
 regarded as a political campaign ; but in what has been 
 done we can at the same time perceive a thoughtful 
 return from the hasty proceedings of the first excitement. 
 It is for this reason that Mr. W. E. Forster, the author 
 of the Act of 1870, has supported the present ministry, to 
 which he does not belong, in carrying the Act of 1876, 
 because the principle of his own law is maintained. It 
 has not been determined to force increased attendance by 
 the general introduction of the compulsory system ; it 
 remains permissive, and is not imperative, i.e., the school 
 boards are at liberty to apply it or not, as they think 
 proper. Wherever the compulsory system has not been 
 established, the object is now to be attained in an in- 
 direct manner, viz.. by forbidding to admit children 
 before their tenth year to work, e.g., in factories. After 
 the tenth, and up to the fourteenth year, it is allowed 
 only on proof being given that the child possesses a 
 certain measure of school knowledge, such as can be 
 acquired during that period by attending the school for 
 half the day. This implies a mitigation of direct com- 
 pulsory attendance, something like what we see in some 
 of the Eastern States of America, as in Massachusets and 
 Connecticut, where the exercise of the right of voting is 
 dependent upon the ability to read and write. 
 
 Another mitigation in the new law concerns the school 
 boards. I have before hinted at the reasons why they 
 are opposed by many. Now the Act of 1876 admits that 
 boards may be dissolved, provided the district contains
 
 262 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 no school for them, and elementary education is other- 
 wise sufficiently provided. The Act further ordains 
 that in smaller towns and country districts, where it is 
 not as easy as in large towns to establish boards with 
 their functions and their whole order of business, town 
 councils, local authorities, and the guardians shall be 
 allowed to take their place, and on the whole exercise the 
 same powers. I pass over other new regulations, which 
 are of less importance to my object. The Act throughout 
 shows a relaxation of severity ; in religious matters also, 
 wdthout expressing it, it allows greater freedom, and its 
 enactments are not to be enforced at once, but gradually 
 until the year 1881. Time is thus gained for testing it, 
 for it certainly is again no more than an experiment.* 
 
 The success hitherto attained in the legislation about 
 elementary schools is in several respects satisfactory, for 
 on the whole much more and much better instruction is 
 given than before. Although much still remains to be 
 done, and although, e.g., in London with its population of 
 nearly four millions it has been impossible to prevent 
 many children growing up without school instruction 
 and wandering about as Arabs and wastrels, still the 
 Duke of Eichmond in his statistical communications to 
 Parliament was able to point to the fact that since 1870 
 the number of children at school had been increased 
 by hundreds of thousands. The moral condition of the 
 lower classes, also, already shows favourable results. 
 
 The more the schools get into a quiet course, and the 
 more a fixed order gains consistency in them, the more it 
 
 * " We have been advancing of late siifiiciently fast in the worlv of 
 education to be able to aflbrd a little breathing time for a new experi- 
 ment."
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 263 
 
 will be possible and necessary to revise the whole system 
 of administration and to change some arrangements and 
 appliances which were at first perhaps indispensable. It 
 is at present an exceedingly complex machinery with a 
 great deal of bureaucratic writing and little direct per- 
 sonal influence. It could not but appear strange to me 
 that the services of a man like Matthew Arnold as In- 
 spector of Schools should be employed for hours in a 
 Wesleyan training college, where I saw him superintend- 
 ing about sixty pupil teachers writing out their tasks, 
 which he himself had not set for them ; with us any 
 teacher would be sufficient for such a function. I have 
 not found that the inspectors of schools in London meet 
 in conferences as a council on technical matters ; they 
 have only to send in their written reports. 
 
 The existing legal ordinances in my opinion require 
 simplification and some of them also greater precision, as 
 e.g., in what is said in section 14 of the Act of 1870 
 about religious instruction ; the Act further speaks of 
 efficient schools, but does not state how they are to be 
 recognised as such, nor is it said as to who is competent 
 to judge of the efficiency of a school, &c. 
 
 But the greatest obstacle to a healthy development of the 
 system of elementary schools lies in the part which money 
 plays in them. The payment by results is a stimulus 
 for teachers ; but the impulse comes from without and 
 not from the thing itself. A real organisation, that is, a 
 form which contains in itself the living law of its growth, 
 cannot possibly be developed in such circumstances. 
 "When teachers— complaints also are made of it in official 
 reports — allow themselves to be guided in their actions, 
 e.g., in the choice and treatment of subjects that go beyond
 
 264 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 the mere elements solely by the prospect of as much gain 
 as possible, — " the educational code guides the teachers' 
 course entirely by money consideration " — and when it 
 can be publicly said that money has become the sole 
 test of success in elementary school-teaching, then surely 
 something is still rotten in this body and requires a 
 healinfj hand. 
 
 LETTEE XVII. 
 
 Brief Retrospect— School Legislation in Prussia and in England- 
 Public Opinion— Consideration as to what is to be done at 
 present for the Higher Schools in England— Conclusion. 
 
 Leytonstone. 
 Before I again leave England I will close my epistolary 
 communications in a place which is specially dear to me 
 on account of the friends with whom I am staying. 
 
 When I put together the features which characterise 
 the present affairs of English schools, I am struck above 
 all things by the lively, earnest and active interest with 
 which the government and the people have made the 
 education of the young the object of their care. Here we 
 see the determined will to discover and carry out what is 
 right and what is best, and the unmistakable desire to 
 harmonise the just claims of the community and of the 
 individual in a manner beneficial to both. These are the 
 problems the solution of which engages the attention of 
 all. Everything still bears the marks of a state of transi- 
 tion; everywhere the unrest of reforming is observable. 
 The demand of the ago to enlarge the course of instruc- 
 tion in the higher schools could be resisted all the less,
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 265 
 
 as it had to be confessed that it was impossible any 
 longer to restore the old power of attraction to the 
 exclusive or predominant occupation with the ancient 
 languages ; the gain of the enlargement^ however, has 
 become a loss, inasmuch as the course of instruction has 
 lost its former simplicity and has not yet attained an inner 
 unity. The new system of examinations is particularly 
 calculated to render this difficult. Both, teachers and 
 pupils make great efforts to satisfy them ; both work with 
 greater exertion than before, but without the proper 
 satisfaction and pleasure in their work. Yet the examina- 
 tions produce this good effect, that arbitrary proceedings 
 have been checked, and that a little more agreement has 
 been introduced into the action of schools of the same 
 category. When I look at what is still wanting and at 
 the institutions intermediate between the elementary 
 schools and the university, the arrangements for instruc- 
 tion and their results, so far as I have become acquainted 
 with them, I am inclined to regard the following as the 
 chief desiderata : greater solidity in the elementary 
 foundations ; a stricter separation of the different kinds 
 of schools ; more definite aims for the instruction in the 
 several classes and in the institutions themselves ; the 
 abandonment of the now prevailing system of allowing 
 pupils to choose their own subjects, in favour of the 
 system of classes ; and institutions preparing teachers 
 for their functions. 
 
 I have no doubt that in this respect the majority of 
 English teachers in the higher institutions will agree with 
 me. It would be more difficult to come to an agreement 
 as to the manner in which this object can best be attained 
 in England. I do not consider it right to leave things in
 
 266 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 the condition in which they now are to their further free 
 development, and I am convinced that a decisive action 
 on the part of the legislature is required. We in Prussia 
 are in a very different position in this respect. Our 
 school legislation has to deal with problems which are 
 totally different from those of England : with us it must 
 regulate, in England it must constitute. I do not mean 
 to say that our work is easier, hut rather the reverse. 
 
 It is indeed not unnatural that the Prussian public, after 
 so many vain attempts to carry an educational bill, have 
 become impatient. But how much do their vain attempts 
 warn us to be cautious, and how do they reveal the great 
 diflSculties that are still to be overcome ! They are to be 
 found in the nature of things, in the difference — which 
 also includes the schools— of the historical development 
 of the numerous provinces out of which Prussia has 
 gradually been formed, and in the connection of the 
 schools with other relations of the state. This last point 
 weighs particularly heavily. For not only the value of 
 school certificates in public life, and the whole system 
 of privileges, but also the internal constitution of the 
 schools, the system of classes and the regulations about 
 examinations, are connected with the manner in which the 
 business of instruction is interwoven with the Prussian 
 political system of administration. Normal plans of 
 instruction have existed in Prussia only during the last 
 decades. Formerly the head-masters had the double task 
 of drawing up the plan of instruction and of seeing it 
 carried into effect ; at j^rcsent so far as instruction is 
 concerned they have only the latter task. In order to 
 attain its own as well as the general objects of education, 
 the state, seeing the frequent mistakes that have been
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 267 
 
 made, found itself obliged to limit tlie self-determining 
 power of the schools, and to draw up the outlines of an 
 agreement among them. These normal plans are not 
 arbitrary schemes, but constructed according to the idea 
 of the different kinds of schools, and according to the 
 claims which public life makes upon the schools. To 
 prevent inconveniences arising was and is impossible. I 
 will only mention the often lamented overburdening 
 the pupils, the removal of which is expected from the 
 legislature. 
 
 The simplification of the course of instruction will 
 always be one of the conditions of discovering a remedy 
 for this ; but in endeavouring to efi'ect this not only the 
 claims made upon the school from without demand con- 
 sideration, but the conditions of the system of classes also 
 have to be borne in mind. Legislation can do little in 
 this matter unless it were to abolish the existing order of 
 the Prussian school system altogether ; but by fixing the 
 limits of the number of pupils in the schools and in the 
 several classes, it may greatly facilitate to the head- 
 masters and their colleagues the task of not unduly 
 exerting the strength of the young. For the task is pre- 
 eminently one of internal pedagogy, and must be treated 
 individually, and consequently not according to legal 
 enactments. General measures without due regard to 
 circumstances might injure the blessing of work in the 
 school. A proper pedagogy has to secure this blessing 
 as well as to prevent harshness and abuse into which the 
 laborious spirit of the Germans has always strayed in the 
 education of youth as well as in other things. In Hugo 
 von Trimberg's Benner we read that a pupil must be 
 pale, and two centuries later Fischart, in his treaties on
 
 268 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 Plutarcli's essay on the education of children, complains 
 that parents overburden their sons with intolerable work, 
 so that their minds decay like seared leaves, become in- 
 dolent, and in the end altogether cease receiving and 
 comprehending their lessons with a quiet mind, because 
 the pleasure in them is drowned by excessive work. This 
 then is an evil against which, as I have already said, a 
 remedy is to be expected much less from the legislature 
 than from pedagogy. 
 
 Everything depends upon a clear view as to what the 
 law can do, and what it cannot do, and what accordingly 
 it ought to do, and ought not to do. The word of the 
 Scriptures that no law can give life applies here also ; 
 it does not reach the inner life and vital power of the 
 school ; its real function and power here also is the 
 right of protecting and of stimulating to do one's duty. 
 It has, therefore, to consider what rights and duties 
 belong, not only to all those persons taking part in the 
 school, but also to the institutions or schools them- 
 selves ; for without such rights and duties they cannot 
 fulfil their tasks. Not to make mistakes in the enact- 
 ments referring to this requires as much insight into the 
 nature of the thing as practical understanding and 
 historical tact, a combination of requirements which is 
 rare among us, if we may judge from recent works written 
 with a view to reform the schools and to assist the legisla- 
 ture : how many Germans have still something of the 
 idealist who builds his perfect castle in the air, but does 
 not know how to settle down on the firm ground of given 
 circumstances ! 
 
 Although in the above-mentioned sense the legislature 
 has to do with the external and internal order of the
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 269 
 
 school, still it must confine itself to general principles 
 as leading rules, and refrain from entering much into 
 detail. We have seen in Belgium, Hungary, and also in 
 Bavaria, how the overlooking of this maxim has become 
 the cause of repeated experiments, has kept the schools in 
 a state of perpetual unrest and uncertainty, and has 
 weakened the confidence in legislative authority. In 
 order to make the right selection and keep within the 
 proper limits, it is requisite to possess a clear knowledge, 
 matured by long observation, of what is necessary and 
 possible ; a law must contain nothing that is not sup- 
 ported by the full guarantee of experience and is not sure 
 of success. Nothing, therefore, must be fixed by law which 
 from its very nature must remain in the living flow of 
 development, and admits of change according to circum- 
 stances. In matters of instruction there are very many 
 things of this kind, because a school is not a ready-made, 
 complete thing, but has an inner living growth, and 
 cannot be isolated, but stands in close relation to, and 
 partially in interaction with the social life in the state, 
 the community, the Church, and the family ; all these 
 things are factors of national education in the wider sense 
 of the word, and legislation has to take them all into 
 account. 
 
 Now the difiference between England and Prussia, as 
 far I can see, consists in the fact that for most of these 
 relations there exists among us already a fixed order and 
 a comprehensive school organisation, whence all that is 
 required is only a legal expression, so far as this is at all 
 compatible with the nature and destination of the school, 
 and so far as the latter must not be left to its own 
 further development according to internal laws, under the
 
 270 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 influeuce of the national spirit of Germany. In England, 
 on the other hand, this order has still to be created, and 
 the outlines of an organisation have still to he drawn, 
 England's advantage lies in this, that it is less hindered 
 than we are by legal arrangements already existing, 
 and can thus confine itself to what is most simple 
 and most needed. This is also rendered necessary on 
 account of the peculiar views of the English people 
 derived from tradition and the habit of centuries, that 
 the order of their public life is less based upon general 
 laws than upon actual and real circumstances and special 
 rights. But the progress from habit to law and the 
 action of correcting the former by the latter has already 
 commenced; in the department of the higher schools it 
 still proceeds with that caution which is the result of 
 respect for the right of what exists. Hitherto the dis- 
 cussions about elementary schools have shown that the 
 right relation and the limit between the legislature and 
 the rights of the executive administration have not yet 
 been discovered. Parliament has hitherto been occupied 
 a great deal too much with the detail of school questions, 
 which ought to be left to the arrangements of the govern- 
 ment or to local administration. The consequences of 
 such a proceeding have not failed to show themselves. 
 Legislation has not yet arrived at the final state and 
 rest which the school requires for its internal consoli- 
 dation : on the contrary, not a few ordinances clearly 
 contain within them the germs of fresh changes that 
 have to be discussed again by the representatives of the 
 people. 
 
 The government, as far as I know, does not at present 
 intend to prepare a legal regulation of the whole domain
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 271 
 
 that lies between the elementary schools and the uni- 
 versities, but having taken the first step towards it, by- 
 its thorough inquiries it will sooner or later be forced 
 to it by public opinion. Legislation in England is 
 dependent upon public opinion in a diflferent and more 
 definite manner than it is in Germany. It may indeed 
 be of a very transient nature, a mere ephemeral opinion 
 of the multitude, changing according to the force of 
 impressions made and guided by leading individuals ; but 
 in most cases it is something stronger and more in- 
 dependent, the concentrated expression of the spirit and 
 will, which at any given time pervades the whole nation. 
 This kind of public opinion in England overrides many 
 dissensions and difierences, e.g., those of the different 
 Churches, and unites the people into one body, the 
 strength and importance of which for the common- 
 wealth the guiding statesmen dare not neglect. It is in 
 many cases a watchful, impartial, and strict guardian of 
 order and law. It is the highest wisdom of the English 
 government to recognise, to estimate, and to make use of 
 the direction of this incalculable power of English life, 
 and to avoid conflicts between it and the life of the state, 
 which is still distinct from it. 
 
 It has often appeared to me, as if with us, the demand 
 for a law about instruction had with many men no 
 other reason than that founded upon the constitution of 
 1850, which promises such a law, and the wish that this 
 gap in the long series of our laws should be filled up at 
 last. Such an abstract demand would have little force 
 with Englishmen, and contribute little towards forming 
 a public opinion on the matter. But the feeling and 
 recognition of an actual want act with them all the
 
 272 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 more powerfully ; they arise, grow imperceptibly, and 
 gradually assume the form of demands with which the 
 government of the country must come to an under- 
 standing. If I am not misled by my own views, which I 
 have found corroborated by isolated expressions of others, 
 it will not be long before public opinion will express 
 itself in favour of extending the legislation commenced 
 with elementary education to the domain of the higher 
 schools. Things cannot possibly remain where they now 
 are ; they must go onwards. As to the how I cannot 
 presume to say. 
 
 But if I look at the matter quite objectively as the 
 subject of a study in state pedagogy — and as such it is 
 in existing circumstances of the highest interest— I might 
 be tempted to sketch a plan which would have for its 
 starting point the creation of a separate school authority. 
 The central place would be a ministry of public instruc- 
 tion in London, assisted by a standing council of qualified, 
 experienced, and intelligent men.* Of such there is no 
 lack in the country, they may be found in schools, uni- 
 versities, and in other official or independent positions. 
 The deliberations with them and the rich materials 
 brought to light and collected by the Inquiry Commis- 
 sioners would furnish the outlines of an organisation of 
 the higher schools, the main object of which ought to be 
 the classification of the schools and the establishment of 
 provincial authorities of administration. These outlines 
 
 * Otljcrs al«o have expressed "tliat the creation of a special ministiy 
 dealing with science and with education is a necessity of the public 
 service. In connection with, and supplementary to this ministry, 
 there should be a permanent scientific council, whose advice on all 
 {loints of science the ministry mi^ht obtain."
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 273 
 
 alone would require the sanction of Parliament, all the 
 rest would be matters of administration. The ministry 
 in conjunction with the technical provincial authorities 
 strengthened in their first deliberations by representatives 
 of all the schools concerned would have to pass resolutions 
 upon the following subjects : — 
 
 The fixing of the limits of instruction in the different 
 kinds of schools and in the several subjects of instruction, 
 but so as to demand only a minimum, and in so elastic 
 a manner as to leave free space for peculiar talents and 
 inclinations of the pupils ; 
 
 Limitation of the system of allowing pupils to select 
 their own subjects, and the gradual introduction of the 
 system of classes ; 
 
 Leaving examinations conducted by the teachers them- 
 selves, after abolishing the present method of examination; 
 
 The conditions to be made regarding the endowment, 
 the school-house, the providing it with all the necessaries 
 for teaching, so as to' entitle it to registration and to 
 hold leaving examinations ; 
 
 Eeform of the present system of prizes and rewards ; 
 
 The granting of school and university scholarships not 
 according to competitive examinations but according to 
 the judgment of the staff of teachers ; and 
 
 Institutions preparing men for the office of teacher, 
 establishment of special commissions subordinate to the 
 provincial school authorities, for examining teachers and 
 for granting them certificates. 
 
 All the rest, the ways and aims, disciplinary arrange- 
 ments, etc., would have to be left perfectly free to the 
 several institutions. Private schools would be at liberty 
 to constitute themselves according to the pleasure of
 
 274 GERMAN LETTERS 
 
 tlieir proprietors. But every head of such a school ought 
 to be made to furnish some proof of his capacity. 
 
 I think no thoughtful and unbiassed judge could see in 
 a school arrangement of this kind any unbearable com- 
 pulsion, anything injurious to the cause, or any kind of 
 unworthy dependence. It does not touch the property 
 of any existing institutions, nor does it threaten any 
 of their real excellences, nor any of their peculiarities 
 which deserve to be retained. I am convinced that the 
 numerous difficulties with which the carrying out of such 
 a scheme would have to deal in England, would not be 
 insuperable, and I am equally sure that it would soon 
 be felt to be a blessing. The recognition of the schools 
 themselves by a public and competent authority would 
 secure to them respect with the public, and confer a value 
 upon their certificates ; in regard to the certificates of 
 qualification for teachers the efi"ect would be the same. 
 
 All these remarks however are intended to be and can 
 be nothing more than the frank opinions of a man who 
 has the advantage of being well acquainted with the 
 working of German schools and to some extent also 
 with those of England, and who desires to state candidly 
 what, in his opinion, the schools of England at present 
 stand in need of. He does so from the stand-point of 
 his experience and knowledge of German schools, so 
 far as the existing arrangements in his own country 
 appear to him as generally adapted to their purposes. 
 They are the conclusions to which lie has been naturally 
 led, by what he has observed in the schools of England. 
 
 I part from the country and from the subject, which, 
 during my long occupation with it, has become to me 
 more and more important, witli the wish and the hope
 
 ON ENGLISH EDUCATION. 275 
 
 that I may live to see the suggested reforms carried 
 out, because they unite liberty with subordination under 
 a respected authority. Englishmen have at all times 
 regarded these two principles less as opposites than 
 any other nation, and they have always known how 
 to combine them both in their public and their private 
 life. 
 
 T 2
 
 276 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 I.— EXAMPLES OF SCHOOL FEES, &c. 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 City of London School per annum . . . . 10 10 
 
 London University College School .... 24 
 
 King's College School, below 16 years . . .2-4 
 
 „ „ above 16 years . . 30 
 
 (For this the pupils have the loan of school books and stationery.) 
 
 Stationers' School, London, 11. (including stationery). 
 
 Dulwich College, Lower School. £ s. d. 
 
 Below 14 years 4 
 
 Above 14 years 8 
 
 Dulwich College, Upper School. 
 
 Below 13 years 15 
 
 Above ]3 years 18 
 
 Spring Grove 25 4 
 
 Clifton College 25 
 
 Giggleswick School 1200 
 
 Manchester Grammar School 12 12 
 
 Edinburgh High School, from 121. to lol., rising with the classes. 
 Edinburgh Academy, from I'Sl. to Idl., rising with the classes. 
 
 Glasgow Hutcheson Grammar School. 
 
 Elementary Department II. to 21., rising with the classes. 
 
 Secondary Department, 21. 10s. to il. 
 The fees are the same in Hutcheson's girls' school. 
 
 In the schools of the Society for the education of girls those under 
 10 years pay 9L Os., those between 10 and 13 years 12^. 12s., and 
 those above 13 years pay Ifjl. 15s. per annum. 
 
 The board in tlie great boarding-schools is at Euuby about 120Z. : 
 at Harrow in the house of the head-master about 112/. ; at Wellington
 
 APPENDIX I. 277 
 
 College 110?. ; in the Charter-house ahout 110/. ; at Malvern College, 
 below 14 years 80/., above 14 years 90/. ; at Sjiriug Grove from 70/. 
 to 90/. ; in Clifton College, under 13 years 60/., above 13 years 72/. ; 
 Salisbury School from 40 to 60 guineas ; in Trinity College, East- 
 bourne, from 40 to 70 guineas ; in Leamington New College, below 
 14 years 60/., above 14 years 70/. ; in Lancing, 62 guineas ; at Hurst- 
 pierpoint, 33 guineas ; at Ardingly, 16 guineas ; in Bloxham All Saints 
 School, 32 guineas ; in Giggleswick School, below 13 years 57/., above 
 13 years 72/. ; in Hereford Cathedral School, from 60/. to 70/. ; in 
 Fettes College, Edinburgh, 100/. ; in Morison's Academy, Crieff, below 
 10 years 45/., between 10 and 13 years 50/., above 13 years 55/. Tn 
 the Moravian Institution at Ockbrook, near Derby, below 12 years 36 
 guineas, above that age, 40 guineas. 
 
 In the boarding houses of the Masters in many of these schools 
 the expenses are generally much higher, amounting in some to 200/. 
 To the above-mentioned sums there must be added several extras, as 
 e.g., entrance fee (which in some cases is as high as twelve guineas), 
 for seat in church, medical attendances, laundry, &c. Sometimes 
 not only instruction in music, but also modern languages, drawing, 
 gymnastics, fencing, military drill, use of the laboratory, workshops, 
 &c., have to be paid for separately as extras. These numerous extras, 
 especially in girls' boarding-schools, sometimes double the expenses 
 mentioned in advertisements, which are occasionally as low as 20/. 
 or even 18/. In some boarding-schools, sons of clergymen pay less 
 than those of laymen ; Indian boys, and all those who remain in 
 institutions during holiday-time, everywhere pay considerably more. 
 
 II.— EXTKAOTS FROM THE SCHEME OF THE SCHOOL 
 FOUNDATION AT WAKEFIELD. 
 
 1. The object of the Foundation or Trust hereby established shall be 
 mainly to promote the advancement of a liberal and practical education 
 for boj^s and girls by means of schools in Wakefield as follows : A' 
 grammar school for boys ; a teclinical or trade school for boys ; a 
 school for girls; with exhibitions and other things conducive or in- 
 cidental to the objects of such schools. 
 
 7. From the date of this scheme all rights and powers reserved or 
 belonging to, or claimed by, any body or person, other than Her 
 Majesty, as visitor of any of these foundations, shall be transferred to 
 Her Majesty, and all such rights and powers, and also any like rights
 
 278 APPENDIX 11. 
 
 and powers vested in Her Majesty on the second day of August, 1869, 
 shall be exercised only through and by the Charity Commissioners. 
 
 9. The Uovtrniny body, hereinafter called the governors, shall ulti- 
 mately, when completely formed and full, except as hereinafter provided, 
 consist of eighteen persons, of whom two shall be ex officio governors, 
 eight representative, and eight co-optative. 
 
 10. The ex officio governors shall be the Mayor of Wakefield and 
 the chairman of the School Board for Wakefield, for the time being, if 
 they will respectively undertake to act in the trusts of this scheme. 
 
 11. The representative governors shall be elected five by the town 
 council of Wakefield, and three by the School Board for Wakefield. 
 
 12. The co-optative governors shall, except as hereinafter provided, 
 be appointed by the governors ; but no such appointment shall be valid 
 until it has been api:)roved by the said Commissioners, and their approval 
 certified under their oflicial seal. 
 
 13. The representative governors, except as hereinafter provided, 
 shall be appointed to oflice for the term of five years. The co-optative 
 governors, exce]>t as hereinafter provided, shall be appointed to office 
 for the term of seven years. Any governor may be re-appointed. 
 
 18. Religious opinions or attendance, or non-attendance at any parti- 
 cular form of religious worship, shall not in any way aflect the qualifi- 
 cation of any person for being a governor under this scheme. Women 
 may be governors. No teacher of any of the schools shall be a governor. 
 
 20. The governors shall hold meetings in some convenient place in 
 Wakefield, or elsewhere, as often as may be found necessary for the 
 management of the trust, and at least two ordinary meetings in each 
 year, on some convenient days to be appointed by themselves, and 
 alter such notice as they shall think fit to prescribe. 
 
 30. The governors shall cause sufficient abstracts of the amounts 
 to be published annually in two local newspapers. Such abstracts may 
 be in the form appended to this scheme, unless any form is prescribed 
 by the Charity Commissioners, in which case the form so prescribed 
 shall be followed. 
 
 33. The governors may from time to time, when and as favourable 
 opportunity oilers, if the Charity Commissioners deem it to be for the 
 jx-rmanent benefit of the trust, and with their sanction sell such real 
 estates of the trust as are not required to be used lor the objects of this 
 scheme, and shall, with the like sanction, invest the proceeds in the 
 names of the official trustees of charitable funds in such mode as the 
 Court of Chancery, in exercise of its statutory powers, or as any Act of 
 Parliament may authorise for the investment of trust funds in general. 
 37. As soon as conveniently may be after the date of this scheme, 
 the governors shall provide on land secured to the trust, and according
 
 APPENDIX II. 271) 
 
 to plans and estimates approved by the Endowed Schools Commis- 
 sioners, or after their powers have ceased by the Charity Commissioners, 
 such additional buildings as may be required for the purposes of the 
 said schools, arranged so as to admit of convenient extension. The 
 buildings for the trade school shall be suitable for not less than one 
 hundred day scholars, with a residence for the head-master. The build- 
 ings for the girls' school shall be suitable for not less than one hundred 
 scholars, with a residence for the head-mistress ; and, if the governors 
 of the girls' school hereinafter mentioned think fit, accommodation 
 for boarders. 
 
 38. For the purposes of such respective sites and buildings, the 
 governors may spend such sums, to be raised out of the capital funds or 
 property of the trust in such manner as the Charity Commissioners may 
 direct. 
 
 39. The parent or guardian of, or person liable to maintain or having 
 the actual custody of, any day scholar at any school under this scheme 
 may claim, by notice in writing addressed to the principal teacher, the 
 exemptions of such scholar from attending prayer or religious worship, 
 or from any lesson or series of lessons on a religious subject, and such 
 scholar shall be exempted accordingly ; and a scholar shall not by 
 reason of any exemption from attending prayer or religious worship, or 
 from any lesson or series of lessons on a religious subject, be deprived of 
 any advantage or emolument in any school under this scheme or out of 
 this trust to which he or she would otherwise have been entitled. If any 
 teacher in the course of other lessons at which any such scholar is in 
 accordance with the ordinary rules of the school present teaches systema- 
 tically and persistently any particular religious doctrine, from the teach- 
 ing of which any exemption has been claimed, as in this clause before 
 provided, the governing body of the school shall, on complaint made in 
 writing to them by the parent, guardian, or person liable to maintain 
 or having the actual custody of such scholar, hear the complaint, and 
 inquire into the circumstances, and, if the complaint is judged to be 
 reasonable, make all proper provisions for remedying the matter 
 complained of. 
 
 40. No person shall be disqualified for being a master in any school 
 under this scheme by reason only of his not being, or not intending to 
 be in holy orders. 
 
 45. The (jrammar school shall be a day and boarding-school, con- 
 sisting of a senior and a junior department under one head-master. 
 
 46. The head-master shall be a member of the Church of England, 
 and a graduate of some university within the British empire. 
 
 47. The head-master shall be appomted by the governors. In order 
 to obtain the best candidates, they shall, for a sufficient time before
 
 280 APPENDIX II. 
 
 making any appointment, give public notice of the vacanc}', and invite 
 competitions by advertisements in newspapers, or by such other 
 methods as they may judge best calculated to secure the object. 
 
 48. The governors may dismiss the head-master without assigning 
 cause, after six calendar months' written notice, given to him in 
 pursuance of a resolution passed at two consecutive meetings held at 
 an interval of at least fourteen days, and duly convened for that express 
 purpose, such resolution being affirmed at each meeting by not less 
 than two-thirds of the governors present. 
 
 50. Every head-master previously to entering into office shall be 
 required to sign a declaration, to be entered in the minute book of 
 the governors in the following form : " I declare that I will always, to 
 the best of my ability, discharge the duties of head-master of the 
 Wakefield Grammar School during my tenure of the office, and that if I 
 am removed by the governors, according to the constitution of the said 
 school, I will acquiesce in such removal, and will thereupon relinquish 
 all claim to the mastership and its emoluments, and will deliver up to 
 the governors, or as they direct, possession of all their property then in 
 my possession or occupation." 
 
 52. The head-master shall give his personal attention to the duties 
 of the school, and during the tenure of office he shall not accept or hold 
 any benefice having the cure of souls, or any office or appointment 
 which, in the opinion of the governors, may interfere with the proper 
 performance of his duties as head-master. 
 
 53. Neither the head-master nor any assistant-master shall receive 
 or demand from any boy in the school, or from any person whom- 
 soever on behalf of any such boy, any gratuity, fee, or payment, except 
 such paj^ments as are prescribed or authorised by this scheme. 
 
 54. Within the limits fi.\ed by this scheme, the governors shall 
 prescribe the general subjects of instruction, the relative prominence 
 and value to be assigned to each group of subjects, the division of the year 
 into term and vacation, the payments of the day scholars, the number 
 and the payments of the boarders, and the number of holidays to be 
 given in term. They shall take general supervision of the sanitary con- 
 dition of the school buildings and arrangements. They shall determine 
 what number of assistant-masters shall be employed. They shall every 
 year assign the amount which they think proper to be paid out of the 
 income of the trust for tlie puriiose of maintaining assistant-masters, 
 and of maintaining a jjroper plant or apparatus for carrying on the 
 instructions given in the school. 
 
 55. Before making or altering any regulations, under the last pre- 
 ceding clause, the governors shall consult the head-master in such a 
 manner as to give him full oiiiiortunity for the expression of his views.
 
 APPENDIX 11, 281 
 
 56. Subject to the rules prescribed by or under the authority of this 
 scheme, the head-master shall have under his control the choice of 
 books, the methods of teaching, the arrangement of classes, and school 
 hours, and generally the whole internal organization, management, 
 and discipline of the school ; provided that if he expels a boy fi-om the 
 school, he shall lorthwith make a full report in writing of the case to 
 the governors. 
 
 57. The head-master, subject as hereinafter provided, shall have the 
 sole power of appointing, and, subject to appeal to the governors, 
 whose decision on such apj^eal shall be final, of dismissing all assistant- 
 masters, and shall determine, subject to the approval of the governors, 
 in what pro]jortions the sum assigned by the governors for the main- 
 tenance of assistant-masters, and of plant or apparatus, shall be divided 
 among the various persons and objects for the aggregate of which it is 
 assigned. And the governors shall pay the same accordingly, either 
 through the hands of the head-master or directly, as they think best. 
 The appointment or dismissal of the senior assistant-master in the 
 junior department shall not be valid until it has been confirmed by the 
 governors. 
 
 59. The head-master shall receive a fixed stipend of 200?. a year. 
 He shall also receive head-money, calculated on such a scale, unilbrm or 
 graduated, as may be determined by the governors, being at the rate of 
 not less than 21., nor more than U. a year for each boy in the junior 
 department, and not less than 4Z. nor more than SI. a year for each boy 
 in the senior department. The payments of stipend and head-money 
 shall be made terminally or quarterly as the governors think fit. 
 
 60. The governors shall make such regulations as they think right 
 for the reception of boarders either in the house of any master upon 
 terms sufficiently profitable to him, or upon the system generally 
 known as the hostel system, under which the pecuniary and domestic 
 arrangements of the boarding house are regulated by persons directly 
 accountable to the governors, and the profit, if there is any, accrues 
 to the credit of the trust, or, if they think it best, they may combine 
 both systems. 
 
 61. All boys, except as hereinafter provided, shall pay such entrance 
 and tuition fees as the governors shall fix from time to time, provided 
 that no such entrance fee shall be more than ten shillings in the junior 
 or more than 11. in the senior department, and that no such tuition fee 
 shall be less than 5Z., or more than 10?. a year in the junior, or less 
 than 101. or more than 201. a year in the senior deiDartment. No 
 difference in respect of such fees shall be made between any scholars 
 on account of place of birth or residence, or of being or not bein<^ 
 
 • boarders. The payment for a boarder aj^art from tuition fees shall
 
 282 APPENDIX 11. 
 
 not exceed the rate of 60/. a year. No extras of any kind shall be 
 allowed without the sanction of the governors, and written consent 
 of the scholar concerned. 
 
 63. No boy shall be admitted into the junior department unless he 
 has attained the age of eight years, and no boy shall remain in that 
 department beyond the end of the term in which he attains the age of 
 fifteen years. 
 
 64. No boy shall be admitted into the senior department unless he 
 has attained the age of twelve years, and, except with the permission 
 of the head-master, no boy shall be allowed to remain in that depart- 
 ment beyond the end of the term in which he attains the age of nine- 
 teen years. And the head-master shall make regulations for the 
 withdrawal of boys from either department of the school, in cases 
 where from idleness or incapacity to profit by the instruction given 
 they have fallen materially below the standard of position and attain- 
 ment proper for their age. 
 
 65. Subject to the provisions established by or under the authority of 
 this scheme, the school and all advantages of the school shall be open 
 to all boys who are of good character and of sufficient health, and who 
 are residing at home with their parents, guardians, or next friends, or 
 in some boarding-home established under the sanction of the governors. 
 
 No boy, not so residing or boarding, shall be admitted to the school 
 unless he has previously obtained the permission of the governors. 
 
 68. Every applicant for admission shall be examined by or under 
 the direction of the head-master, who shall ajipoint convenient times for 
 that purpose, and give reasonable notice to the parents of those whose 
 turn is arriving. No boy shall be admitted to the school without 
 undergoing the examination for admission to the department to which 
 he is admitted, and being found fit for admission. Those who are so 
 found fit shall, if there is room for them, be admitted in order, accord- 
 ing to the dates of their application. If there is not such room, the 
 governors may direct that their priority shall be determined by 
 competitive examination. 
 
 69. The examination for admission to the junior department shall 
 be graduated according to the age of the boy, but never fall below the 
 following standard, that is to say : reading easy narrative, writing 
 small text liand, sim]ile sums in the first four rules of arithmetic, with 
 the multiplication table. 
 
 70. The examination for admission to the senior department shall 
 be graduated according to the age of the boy, but shall never fiiU below 
 the following standard, that is to say : reading^ordinary narrative prose, 
 writing simple prose from dictation, sums in the four simple and 
 compound rules of arithmetic, English grammar, geography, outlines
 
 APPENDIX JI. 28a 
 
 of English history, Latin grammar, translation and parsing of simple 
 Latin sentences. The governors may raise the minimum standard 
 for either department from time to time if they deem it advantageous 
 for the school. 
 
 71. The governors and head-masters shall, within their respective 
 departments, as hereinbefore defined, and subject to the provisions of 
 this scheme, make proper regulations for the religious instruction to be 
 given in the school. Such instruction shall be in accordance with the 
 doctrines of the Church of England. 
 
 72. The subjects of secular instruction shall be as follows : In the 
 junior department, reading, writing, arithmetic, history, geography, 
 English grammar, composition and literature, one or more modern 
 European languages, Latin, one branch (at least) of natural science, 
 mathematics, vocal music, and drawing. In the senior department, 
 Greek shall be taught, in addition to the subjects prescribed for the 
 junior department. The boys shall be instructed iu the foregoing 
 subjects according to the classification and arrangements made by the 
 head-master. 
 
 73. Annual examinations (see p. 132, note). 
 
 74. The head-master shall make an annual report in writing to 
 the governors on the general condition of the school, and on any 
 special occurrences during the year. He may also mention the names 
 of any boys who in his judgment are worthy of praise or substantial 
 reward, having regard both to proficiency and conduct. 
 
 75. By way of exhibitions tenable at the school, the governors shall 
 grant exemptions from the payment of tuition lees for such periods 
 and on such conditions as they think fit. All such exemptions shall 
 be given as the reward of merit only, and shall be assigned, in the case 
 of candidates for admission, on the result of an open competitive 
 examination, to be conducted by an independent examiner under 
 arrangements to be made by the governors and head-master, and in the 
 case of boys already attending the school, on the reports of the 
 examiners and head-master, and no exemptions shall be granted to any 
 such boy if the head-master reports that he is rendered undeserving of 
 it by ill-conduct. The governors may under these conditions exempt 
 boys from the payment of the whole or of one-half of the tuition fee, 
 but such exemption shall in every case be liable to forfeiture in the 
 event of misconduct or failure to maintain a reasonable standard of 
 proficiency. Boys so exempted shall be called and ranked as foundation 
 scholars, and the degrees of exemption shall be further distinguished if 
 the governors think fit. No further exemptions shall be allowed when 
 the exemptions, total and partial, reach the proportion of one iu every 
 ten boys in the school.
 
 284 APPENDIX II. 
 
 76. '['he governors ma)- nlso, in cases in which they think it expedient, 
 grant further exhibitions tenable at the school, by awarding to ex- 
 hibitioners or other deserving scholars on the recommendation of the 
 head-master gratuities not exceeding in the case of any scholar the 
 amount of 10?. in a year, towards the cost of books and stationery, and 
 other exi^enses incident to their attendance at the school. For this 
 purpose they may apply yearly a sum of not more than 60?. 
 
 77. The governors shall apply the yearly sum of 240?. in providing 
 exhibitions, each of such yearly value not exceeding 50?., and tenable 
 for three years at an university or any such place of liberal scientific, 
 technical, or professional education or study as they may approve, to 
 be competed for by scholars who are at least seventeen years of age, 
 and who have attended the school for not less than three years 
 immediately preceding the date of the election. Candidates shall be 
 elected to these exhibitions by the governors on a consideration of the 
 reports of the head-master and of the examiner. In cases of equality 
 of merit preference shall be given to sons of inhabitants of the town of 
 Wakefield. 
 
 79. The Trade School shall be a day-school only, under a head-master. 
 
 80. The head-master of the trade school shall have the degree of 
 Bachelor of Science in the University of London, or a certificate of the 
 Department of Science and Art, or some other certificate of proficiency 
 in science as the governors may consider satisfactory. 
 
 81. The appointment, dismissal, and payment of assistant-masters, 
 and the distribution of the amount assigned for the maintenance of 
 school plant and apparatus shall be at the discretion of the governors, 
 but except as aforesaid the trade school shall be subject to the like 
 provisions as contained in the foregoing clauses relating to the grammar 
 school. 
 
 82. The head-master shall receive a fixed stipend of 150?. a year. 
 He shall also receive head-money calculated on such a scale, uniform or 
 graduated, as may be determined by the governors, being at the rate of 
 not less than 1?. nor more than 3?. a year for each boy. The payments 
 of stipend and head-money shall be made terminally or quarterly, as 
 the governors think fit. 
 
 83. All boys, except as hereinafter provided, shall pay such entrance 
 and tuition fees as the governors shall fix from time to time, j^rovided 
 that no such entrance fee shall exceed ten shillings, and that no such 
 tuition fee shall be less than 3?. or more than 6?. a year. 
 
 • 85. No boy shall be admitted into the school unless he has attained 
 the age of eight years. No boy shall remain in the school after the 
 end of the term in which he attains the age of sixteen years. 
 
 91. The governors and head-masters shall, within their respective
 
 APPENDIX II. 285 
 
 departments as hereinbefore defined, and snbject to the provisions of 
 this scheme, make proper regulations for the religious instruction to he 
 given in the schooL 
 
 92. The subjects of secular instruction shall be as follows : reading, 
 writing, arithmetic, English, geography, mathematics, drawing (with 
 special reference to mechanics and engineering), and such other branches 
 of practical and experimental science as the governors may direct. 
 
 96. In providing exhibitions the governors shall arrange that half of 
 the number shall be competed for in the first instance by boys who 
 have been educated for at least two years at the public elementary 
 schools in the municipal borough of Wakefield, and who have passed 
 he inspector's examination in the standard suitable to their age, and 
 the governors shall make such arrangements as seem to them best 
 adapted to secure the double object of attracting good scholars to the 
 school, and applying a stimulus to the said public elementary schools. 
 None of the exhibitions in respect of which a preference is given by 
 this clause shall be thrown to all comers until the head-master has 
 reported that there are not enough boys from the said public elementary 
 schools who on examination proved worthy to take them. Subject to 
 the preference given by this clause, the exhibitions established under 
 this part of this scheme shall be freely and openly competed for. 
 
 98. The governors shall also apply the yearly sum of 90/. in providing 
 exhibitions, each of a yearly value not exceeding 30/., tenable at other 
 places of education or professional training, to be approved of by the 
 governors, and to be awarded by open competition among the boys who 
 have been educated at the school for not less than three years 
 immediately preceding the date of the election. 
 
 100. In the management of the girW school the governoi's shall act 
 with three women, to be appointed in the manner hereinbefore provided 
 for the appointment of co-optative governors, except that such women 
 shall act as governors in future appointments. The governors with 
 such women shall be called the governors of the girls' school. 
 
 101. The school for girls shall be a day, and if the governors think 
 it desirable, a boarding school under a head-mistress. 
 
 104. The head-mistress shall receive a fixed stipend of lOOZ. a year. 
 She shall also receive head-money calculated on such a scale, uniform 
 or graduated, as may be determined by the governors of the girls' school, 
 being at the rate of not less than thirty shillings or more than 3/. yearly 
 for each girl. These payments shall be made terminally or quarterly, 
 as the governors of the girls' school think fit. 
 
 105. All girls, except as hereinafter provided, shall pay such entrance 
 and tuitioD fees as the governors of the girls' school shall fix from time 
 to time, provided that no such entrance fee shall exceed ten shillings,
 
 286 APPENDIX ir. 
 
 and that no such tuition fee shall be less than 6/. or more than 10?. a 
 year. No difference in respect to such fees shall be made between any 
 scholars on account of place of birth or residence, or of being or not 
 being boarders. The payments for a boarder, apart from tuition and 
 entrance fees, shall not exceed the rate of 3G/. a year. No extras of 
 any kind shall be allowed without the sanction of the governors of the 
 girls' school, and the written consent on behalf of the scholar concerned. 
 107. No girl shall be admitted into the school unless she has attained 
 the age of eight years. No girl shall remain in the school after the 
 end of the term in which she attains the age of eighteen years. 
 
 111. Every ap[)licant for admission shall be examined by or under 
 the direction of the head-mistress, who shall appoint convenient times 
 for that purpose, and give reasonable notice to the parents of those 
 whose turn is arriving. No girl shall be admitted to the school except 
 alter undergoing such examination and being found fit for admission. 
 Those who are so found fit shall, if there is room for them, be admitted 
 in order according to the dates of their application. If there is not such 
 room, the governors of the girls' school may direct that their priority 
 shall be determined by competitive examination. 
 
 112. The examination for admission shall be graduated according to 
 the age of the girl, but it shall never fall below the following standard, 
 that IS to say : reading easy narrative, small text handwriting, the first 
 four rules of arithmetic, the outlines of the geography of England. 
 The governors of the girls' school may raise the minimum standard 
 from time to time if they deem it advantageous for the school. 
 
 114. The subjects of secular instruction shall be as follows : reading, 
 writing, arithmetic, English composition and literature, geography, 
 history, German, French, some one or more branches of natural science, 
 algebra, geometry, domestic economy, drawing, and music. Other 
 Icreign languages may be taught at such extra fees as the governors of 
 the girls' school may direct. 
 
 126. The governors may also, it they think fit and the funds suffice 
 for the purpose, agree with either head-master for the formation of a 
 fund in the nature of a pension or superannuation fund, the main 
 principle of .such agreement being that the head-master and the trust- 
 fund shall each contribute annually for a period of twenty years such 
 sums as may be fixed on : that these contributions shall accumulate 
 :it (•()ni[)0und interest; that in case the head-master servos his office 
 twenty years, he sliall on his retirement be entitled to the whole fund : 
 that in case he retires earlier on account of permanent disability from 
 illness, he shall also be entitled to the whole fund : that in all other 
 cases he shall, on his ceasing to be master, be entitled to the amount 
 produced by his own contributions,"
 
 APPENDIX III. 287 
 
 The regulations respecting religious instruction, the annual examina- 
 tions, the annual reports of the head-master, and the scholarships in 
 the commercial and girls' school are similar to those mentioned in 
 regard to the grammar schools. 
 
 III.— EXTRACT FROM THE STATUTE FOR MIDDLE-CLASS 
 EXAMINATIONS, MADE BY THE UNIVERSITY OF OX- 
 FORD, JUNE 18, 1857. 
 
 Quum sit multifariam petitum ut bona3 spei adolescentes extra 
 Academiam, Uteris artibusque humanioribus studentes, examinatione 
 habita in Clientelam Universitatis recipiantur, placuit Universitati 
 h;ec qu£e sequuntur sancire : 1. Candidatorum qui non sunt de corpore 
 Universitatis Examinatio, vel intra Academiam, vel si res ita ferat, 
 ctiam alibi, quotannis habeatur duplex ; videlicet Seniorum qui decimum 
 octavum, Juniorum qui decimum quintum setatis annum nondum 
 compleverint. 2. Fiat Examinatio tum in Rudimentis Fidei et Religionis 
 (nisi alicujus parentes vel qui in loco parentis sint banc renuerint), 
 tum in Literis Anglicis, in Histovia, in Linguis, in Mathematica, in 
 Scientiis Physicis, et in ceteris artibus qua3 ad juventutem liberaliter 
 educandam pertinent. 3. Testimonium accipiat quicunque tum 
 Seniorum tum Juniorum Examinatoribus satisfecerit ; titulo etiam 
 Associati in Artibus ex Academiaj auctoritate Senioribus collato. 
 
 liegulations for carrying into effect the statute concerning the ex- 
 amination of those who are not members of the university (Nov. 1857 : 
 has since been little changed). 
 
 The examination will commence on Monday the 21st of June. 
 Junior and senior candidates will be examined at the same time, but 
 the papers for the two exanunations will be different. 
 
 A. — Exjmiination of Junior Candidates for Certificates. 
 I. — All candidates will be required to satisfy the examiners in — ■ 
 1. Reading aloud a passage from Southey's ' Life of Nelson.' 2. Writing 
 from dictation. 3. The unalysis and parsing of a passage taken from 
 Goldsmith's ' Deserted Village.' A few questions will also be set on 
 tlio allusions, &c., in the poem. 4. Writing a short English comjjosition, 
 such as a description of a place, an account of some useful natural or 
 artificial product, or the like. 5. Arithmetic.' — No candidate will be 
 passed who cannot work the first four rules, simple and compound, 
 
 whatever may be his excellence in other respects. 6. Geography. 
 
 Every candidate will be required to draw from memory an outline map, 
 showing the coast-line, the chief ranges of mountains, and the chief
 
 288 APPENDIX III. 
 
 rivere of some country to be named by the examiners from the fallowing 
 list : England, Scotland, Ireland, Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, 
 South America, Australasia. Questions will also be set in geography. 
 7. The outlines of English History : that is, tlie succession of sovereigns, 
 the chief events and some account of the leading men in each reign. 
 The quality of the handwriting in the several exercises will be taken 
 into account. 
 
 II. — The examination in the rudiments of Faith and Religion will 
 consist of questions in : 1. The Book of Genesis and Exodus, the 
 Gos^Del of St. Matthew, and tlie Acts of the Apostles. 2. The Catechism, 
 the Morning and Evening Services, and tlie Litany. This examination 
 will not be required of any candidate whose parents or guardians shall 
 have declined it on his behalf. 
 
 III. — Papers will also be set in the following eight subjects, and 
 every candidate will be required to offer himself for examination in one 
 subject at least ; but no candidate will be examined in more than four. 
 
 1. Latin. — A passage will be given from Caesar de Bello Gall., books 
 I. II. III., for translation into English, with questions on the parsing and 
 the historical or geographical allusions. An easy passage for translation 
 from some other Latin book. A passage of English, with the Latin 
 words supplied, for translation into Latin. 
 
 2. Greek. — A passage will be given from Xenophon's ' Anabasis, 
 books I. II., for translation into English, with questions on the pars- 
 ing, and the historical or geographical allusions. An easy passage for 
 translation from some other Greek book. 
 
 3. French.— A passage will be given from Voltaire's 'Charles XII.,' 
 with questions on the parsing, and the historical or geographical 
 allusions. A passage from a French newspaper for translatiuu into 
 English. English sentences for translation into French. 
 
 4. German. — A passage will be given from Schiller's ' Pievolt of the 
 Netherlands,' with questions on the parsing, and the historical or 
 geographical allusions. A passage from a German newspaper for trans- 
 lation into English. English sentences for translation into German. 
 
 5. Mathematics.— ' 'EucUd,' books I. II. Arithmetic. — Algebra to 
 simple equations inclusive. This amount of knowledge will enable a 
 candidate to pass in this subject. Questions will also be set in ' Euclid, 
 books II [. IV. VI., in quadratic equations, progressions, and proportion, 
 plane trigonometry not beyond the solution of triangles, the use of 
 logarithms, mensuration, and practical geometry. 
 
 6. Mechanics and Mechanism. — The questions on mechanics will 
 be chiefly of a practical character, and will not extend beyond the 
 parallelograms of forces, the centre of gravity, and the mechanical
 
 APPENDIX III. 289 
 
 powers. The questions on mechanism will be confined to the me- 
 chanism of the steam-engine. The answers must be illustrated by 
 diagrams or drawings. Great importance will be attached to good 
 drawing. 
 
 7. Chemistry. — Questions will be set on the elementary facts of 
 chemistry. Solutions will be given to be tested, containing each not 
 more than one acid and one base. 
 
 8. Botany and Zoology. — Questions will be set on the classification 
 of plants and animals, their uses, and geographical distribution. 
 British plants and parts of plants will be given for description. 
 
 IV. Candidates may also ofi"er themselves for examination in — 1. 
 Drawing from the flat, from models, from memory, and in perspective. 
 
 2. In the grammar of music. 
 
 The names of the successful candidates will be arranged in three 
 divisions : Those in the first division will be placed in the order of 
 merit ; those in the second and third divisions alphabetically. After 
 each successful candidate's name will be inserted his age, the place of 
 his residence, and the school (if any) from which he comes to attend 
 the examination. The certificate given to each successful candidate 
 will specify the subjects in which he has satisfied the examiners. The 
 fact that a candidate has passed the examination in the rudiments of 
 faith and religion will be entered on his certificate, although it will not 
 affect his place on the list. 
 
 B. — Examination of Senior Candidates for the title of Associate 
 
 in Arts. 
 Candidates must be under eighteen years of age on the day when the 
 examination begins. 
 
 I. All candidates at this examination will be required to satisfy the 
 examiners in-^1. Analysis of English sentences and parsing, and 
 correction of faulty sentences. 2. A short English composition. 
 
 3. Arithmetic. — Geography. — Every candidate will be required to draw 
 from memory an outline map of some country in Europe to be named 
 by the examiners, showing the boundary lines, the chief ranges of 
 mountains, the chief rivers, and the chief towns. Questions will also 
 be set in geography. 5. The outlines of English History : that is, the 
 succession of sovereigns, the chief events, and the characters of the 
 leading men in each reign. 
 
 II. The examination in the rudiments of Faith and Religion will 
 consist of questions in— 1. The historical Scriptures of the Old Testament 
 to the death of Solomon. 2. The Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John, 
 
 u
 
 290 APPENDIX III. 
 
 and the Acts of the Apostles. Those who offer themselves for exami- 
 nation in Greek wiU be expected to answer questions on the same parts 
 of the Greek Testament. 3. The Catechism, the Morning and Evening 
 Services, and the Litany ; and the outlines of the history of the Book 
 of Common Prayer. This examination, &c., as before II. 1. 
 
 III. Every candidate will also be required to satisfy the examiners 
 in two at least of the sections marked A B C D ; or in one of those 
 four, and in one of those marked E F. 
 
 A. English. — This will include questions in — 1. English History, from 
 the battle of Bosworth Field to the Eestoration ; and the outlines of 
 the ' History of English Literature ' during the same period. 2. Shak- 
 speare's ' King Lear,' and Bacon's ' Essays.' 3. The outUneS of Political 
 Economy and English Law. The examination will not extend beyond 
 the subjects treated of in the first book of Smith's ' Wealth of Nations,' 
 and the first volume of ' Blackstone's Commentaries.' 4. Physical, 
 political, and commercial geography. A fair knowledge of one of these 
 four classes of subjects will enable a candidate to pass in this section. 
 
 B. Languages. — 1. Latin ; 2. Greek ; 3. French ; 4. German. A 
 fair knowledge of one of these languages will enable a candidate to pass 
 in this section. 
 
 C. Mathematics. — 1. Pure mathematics. 2. Practical mechanics 
 (including mechanism) and Hydrostatics mathematically treated. Sur- 
 veying, and navigation. Algebra to the end of quadratic equations and 
 four books of ' Euclid ' will enable a candidate to pass in this section, 
 
 D. Physics. — 1. Natural philosophy. Great importance will be 
 attached to good mechanical drawing. 2. Chemistry. Questions will 
 be set on the facts and general principles of chemical science. There 
 will be a practical examination in the elements of analysis. 3. Vege- 
 table and animal physiology. Questions will be set on vegetable 
 physiology in general, and on the functions of vertebrata in animal 
 physiology. Parts of plants and bones of vertebrata will be given for 
 description. Great importance will be attached to good botanical and 
 anatomical drawing. A fair knowledge of one of these classes of 
 subjects will enable a candidate to pass in this section : but in all cases 
 a practical acquaintance with the subject-matters will be indispensable. 
 
 E. Drawing and Architecture. — 1. Drawing from the flat, from 
 models, from memory, and in perspective, and drawing of plans, sections 
 and elevations. 2. Design in pen and ink, and in colour. 3. The 
 liistory and principles of the arts of design. A fair degree of skill in 
 freehand drawing. 
 
 F. Music. — 1. The grammar of music. 2. The history and principles 
 of musical r-oinposition. The elements of thorough bass.
 
 APPENDIX IV. 291 
 
 IV.— SPECIMENS FKOM THE PAPEES OF THE UNIVERSITIES 
 OF OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 A. — For the examination of schools : 
 
 What is the meaning of the distinction between synthetic and 
 analytic languages? Which is the earlier stage? Illustrate your 
 answer by special reference to the case systems of Greek and Latin. 
 Give the meaning of laxare ordines, erigere aciem. Give the etymology 
 of secundus, anceps, and the comparative of fxikas, ra^us, pius, vettis, 
 and the superlative of fxaKpos, prope, irenav. To what extent is Latin 
 literature original? After translating a passage from Lucretius the 
 candidate is asked to state the theories held by the philosophers 
 Empedocles and Anaxagoras, and to state the chief differences between 
 Lucretius and Virgil as writers of hexameter verse. In translating from 
 Cicero, in Catilinara, the candidate is asked to parse decreverit, nosce, 
 egeris, egredere. With a translation of Horace the candidate is asked 
 to give the perfect and supine oi geret, expediunt, perficient, vmci, pro- 
 fero, to parse stravere, dereptum, cutem, and to give the dative plural 
 of filia, prcBceps, adidter. After a question about Mr. Merivale's view 
 about the satirical character of Sallust, the candidate among other 
 things is asked to mention the genitive plural of canis, dux, and juvenis, 
 the comparative of parvus, heneficus, and cequus, and the perfect of 
 claudo, Jingo, pergo, haurio. After a translation from Juvenal, he is 
 asked to give an account of the prospects of poets, historians, orators, 
 and schoolmasters in Juvenal's time. The (Edipus Tyrannus is the 
 most typical of Greek tragedies. Explain and examine this statement. 
 Parse fiefivin^eda, d<pl^aL, Trecfiacrfiai. Which of the tenses of tW/j/xi are 
 intransitive ? The comparative of ococppav, pddios, fiaKpos. What 
 internal evidence have we derived from the style, as to the question, 
 whether Richard II. is one of Shakspeare's earlier or later plays ? The 
 rise of satiric literature in England. Trades' Unions, their uses and 
 abuses. 
 
 B. From the examination papers for certificates : Compare the literary 
 merits of Herodotus and Thucydides/ of iEschylus and Euripides. 
 Shakspeare differs in many points from the dramatists who preceded 
 him. Illustrate these differences by examples. What influence did 
 the ' Laocoon ' exercise upon German literature ? What are the 
 special characteristics of Lessing's style ? Give an estimate of Moli^re 
 as a comic writer. Give an account of the controversy which led to 
 the publication of the ' Provincial Letters.' How far was homicide 
 excused and justified by the Jesuit writers? Does their teaching 
 appear to have had any practical influence ? Estimate the literary,
 
 292 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 religious, and philosophical influence of the ' Provincial Letters.' What 
 are the principal differences between the Latin and the French 
 languages? Give the third person plural present indicative of tenir, 
 courir, finir, boire, 2^luire. Write down in all numbers and persons 
 the imperfect indicative of ^Josswm, the future of^o, the present indica- 
 tive of nolo. Give the degrees of comparison of acriter, fortiter, diu, 
 senex, dives. Give the perfect and supine of surgo, rumpo, pello, tango. 
 Translate into Latin : He begged me to wait till he had finished what 
 he was then doing. It is incredible how few of this nation can be 
 trusted. There are few men whom I love more than I do him. 
 Precarious, study, solemn, injurious ; give the exact meaning in 
 classical authors of the Latin words from which these words are derived. 
 Parse the following words : vrja, yepovat, Kpfirrovs, airohoarOai, fiedevres, 
 Teixn, 4>i\a, Give the degrees of comparison of raxvs, alcrxpos, lySe'cos, 
 dXrjdrjs. Give the future and aorist tenses of oAXv/xi, eKcpepco, '6p.vvp,i, 
 ala-ddvofjLai, ylyvopLai, tiktw, Tpe(t)co, ecrdia). Point out in these words 
 what is root, and what is formative or inflexional element. After 
 translating a passage from Thucydides, the questions are : parse Kadlcrav, 
 Kadearap-fv, dvaXovv, and decline v'u'ls, vdop, UTrXovs, Imrevs. 
 
 From the Examination Papers of the London University. 
 
 A. At the Matricidation Examination : 
 
 Translate into Latin : It matters little to the republic, whether you 
 depart or stay at home. All citizens must obey the laws of their 
 country. Peace being concluded, the armies were disbanded. He 
 promised to come early. I hope to receive a letter from my friend 
 before he sets out for Home. No one knows what may happen to- 
 morrow. 
 
 Correct the sentences : Meminit res pra^teritas. Quum urbem cepis- 
 set, fedificia omnia publica et privata pepercit. Suadet me, ut Athenas 
 proficiscerer. 
 
 Give the etymology of the words : amhitio, seditio, conditio, contio, 
 reditus. 
 
 Decline dives, Arabs, frigus acre, senex locuples. 
 
 Give the third person plural perfect indicative active of vinco, vincio, 
 vivo. Jingo, figo, tango, pergo. 
 
 Besides the translation of a passage from Xcnophon's ' Anabasis,' the 
 candidates are asked to decline throughout : peya opos, raxvs iTnrevs, 
 p.ei^ov Kepas ; to distinguish avrr], avrf], avrrj, avrov, avrup, avrr] 17 X'^P'* 
 and T] avTTf x<^P^ 5 to name the mood and tense, and write down the 
 first person of the present tense active of aTroBpavai, eirereTaKTO, tTerparo, 
 BiaTeTpTjVTo ; and to write down the first person future and aorist active 
 of oWvpi, eKTtivco, npvvpi, ayyeXXw, XavOnvo).
 
 APPENDIX IV. 293 
 
 B. At the first B. A. Examination. 
 
 After the translation of a passage from the Iliad, the candidates are 
 asked to decline in singular and plural avrji) jSovXfvrtjs, (iovs elXnrovs ; 
 to parse delvai, VTroa-xecrdcu, bvvr)ai, Kari-rrrj^iv, yvaai ; what suffixes 
 are added to nouns and pronouns to express the ideas of where, whence, 
 whither ? 
 
 In connection with a translation from Livj-, they are asked : How do 
 the Eomans express to and from and position at, with names of towns ? 
 To translate into Latin : He vainly tried to prevent me from doing 
 what I wished. He said he would not have gone away, unless you had 
 ordered him. Camillus returned in triumph to the city, victorious in 
 three wars at once. Such was the end of a man who, if he had not 
 been born in a free state, would have had a place in history. 
 
 C. At the first B.A. Examination for honours. 
 
 Translation of chapters from Livy, Cicero, and Tacitus into English, 
 and of a jmssage from Gibbon into Latin. Change of Latin sentences 
 and periods from the oratio recta into the oratio obliqua and vice versa. 
 
 In what sense is quisquam used, and how does it differ from aliquis ? 
 Distinguish between non nemo and nemo non, and give other examples 
 of the same kind. State the different meanings of both the Latin 
 imperfect and the perfect. 
 
 Translate into Latin : I hope you will not take it ill that I have 
 spoken to you so frankly. The soldiers were stirring up more dust than 
 one would have expected from their number. I do not doubt but that 
 you will soon discover how useful it is to study mathematics. 
 
 Write out the following sentences corrected : Minime tibi docet talia 
 loqui. Cicero dicitur summum oratorem fuisse. Cupio scire quid 
 ageres. Pueris ludere licentiam domus. Persuasus sum id fieri non 
 posse. 
 
 D. At the second B.A. Examination for Honours. — Essay on the 
 influence of Greek literature on that of the Romans. Translations of 
 passages from Herodotus, Plato, Aristotle. Connected with this, state 
 briefly the points discussed in the first three books of Aristotle's Nicom. 
 Ethics. State the subject which Plato discusses in the Protagoras, 
 Which are the principal rules about the use of the optative mood ? In 
 connection with translations from Lucretius, Terence, and Horace, we 
 find : How do you explain the accusative in stratus membra, coronatus 
 capillos? Explain the difference between Fuit ha3c res documento, 
 quanta sit and quanta esse^ vis conscientife. 
 
 E. General Examination for Women. — Write a short life of Agesi- 
 laus. Describe the immediate cause of the war between Greece and 
 Persia. Mention the principal rivers of Greece, with their courses, and 
 say which is the largest of them. Describe the positions of Delphi,
 
 294 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 Platjea?, Itliome, Cythcra, Epidauros, Pylos ; and state what you know 
 of their history. 
 
 In connection with a translation of passages from the Odyssey, it is 
 asked : State the voice, mood, and tense of u^Ikovto, elirejxev, nideadm, 
 efifiadev, dprjpei. State the case governed by the jjrepositions 8i.d, ds, 
 Kara, vtto, irapa, and distinguish the several meanings of them. In 
 connection with Xenophon's ' Anabasis,' decline 6 fiiyas opvis, nav 86pv, 
 6 a\T)drjs pdprvs. When do the Greeks use the nominative and when 
 the accusative with the infinitive ? 
 
 The questions set by the College of Preceptors for the examination 
 of schools and for the diploma (see p. 128) are of a similar kind. 
 Examples from the former are : Connected with the translation of a 
 passage from Cicero, De Senect. are such questions as : parse viri, nive, 
 earn. What kind of verbs are persequare and poeniteret ? Give the 
 perfect and supine of vides, doceri, excipiet, vixisset. Of what verbs 
 are moriaris and moreris respectively parts? Similar questions are 
 put in connection with translations from Sallust, Virgil, and Horace, 
 e.g., distinguish redeunt and rtddunt, or about the declension of duce, 
 manii, urhes, about the comparative and superlative, or the principal 
 tenses of ordinary verbs ; short sentences to be translated into Latin. 
 Similar questions are put in Greek, in connection with Homer and 
 Xenophon. Even the questions put to candidates for the diploma of 
 an associate are not essentially different (see p. 128). 
 
 v.— EXTKACTS FROM SOME OF THE COURSES OF 
 INSTRUCTION. 
 
 Clifton College, according to the system of bifurcation, besides a 
 junior school (in which Greek also is taught), has a Classical and a 
 Modern side. In the sixth form of the former the subjects of instruc- 
 tion are : the Old Testament (Judges), the New Testament (Philippians), 
 Sophocles, Thucydides ; Cicero, Virgil ; Organic Chemistry, Mechanics ; 
 Delille, Moliere's Tartuffe ; Schiller (Don Carlos) ; Fouque' (Undine) ; 
 English History, Geography, and Literature. In the first set of the 
 modern side : Old Testament (Judges), New Testament (St. John) ; 
 Virgil, English History and Geography ; Shakespeare (Pilchard II.) ; 
 Organic Chemistry, Mechanics; Racine (Athalie), Goethe (Hermann 
 und Dorothea). 
 
 Dulvjich College. — Sixth form (in 1875): Old Testament (Kings), 
 New Testament (St. Mark) ; Cicero (pro Cluentio), Horace (Ars 
 Poetica), Thucyd. Book VH. ; Aristophanes (Nubes) ; Shakespeare
 
 APPENDIX V. 295 
 
 (Tempest), Goethe (Egmont) ; A. W. Schlegel (Dramatic Literature) ; 
 Ponsard (Charlotte Corday) ; History of Greece ; Trigonometry, Conic 
 Sections ; Mechanics ; Chemistry (theoretical and practical) ; Physics 
 (heat and light) ; Geology ; Physical Geography (North Polar regions) ;' 
 Drawing (from the model, shading from the cast, anatomical and 
 mechanical drawing). 
 
 At Harrow the modern side has every week six or seven lessons in 
 Mathematics, four or five in French, three in German, two or three in 
 Natural Science, two or three in Latin, two in Divinity, two or three 
 in History and English. 
 
 The City of London School begins with a junior school, in which, 
 besides the usual elementary subjects, instruction is given in English 
 Grammar, Geography, and History. Above this there is a middle or com- 
 mercial school for boys from the age of ten to sixteen, in which Algebra 
 is commenced, and Latin and French also are taught. After this 
 follows the concluding or senior school in three classes for boys between 
 the ages of thirteen and nineteen ; here Greek and higher Mathematics 
 also are taught. 
 
 The curriculum of the High School of Edinburgh embraces six years, 
 the first three of which are destined for the general junior division ; 
 above them the course is divided into a classical and commercial side, 
 each comprising three years. In the highest class of the former two 
 hours are daily devoted to Latin, one to Greek, &c., the pupil may 
 have also Bookkeeping, if it is wished, without extra charge. In the 
 highest class of the commercial side are taught : English Literature, 
 History, Geography, French, German, Physiology. The pupil continues 
 his Latin and Bookkeeping. Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and 
 Natural History are not mentioned. 
 
 The Edinburgh Academy has similar arrangements. The classical 
 side devotes three and a half hours daily to Greek, Latin, and 
 Geography; two hours to English, French, German, Mathematics. 
 The modern school gives daily one hour to Latin and Ancient History, 
 four and a half hours to English, French, German, Mathematics, Geo- 
 graphy, and Bookkeeping. 
 
 Hutcheson's Grammar School at Glasgow (see p. 73) has a course 
 of nine years, and in the last of the classical side are taught : English, 
 Mathematics, Ancient History and Geography, Latin, Greek, Antiquities, 
 Music; and simultaneoui;ly in the modern school: English, Book- 
 keeping, Drawing, Physical and Matliematical Geography, Mathematics, 
 Natural Philosophy, Mechanics, German, and Music. In both sides 
 fencing with foils, rifle, and drill are taught. 
 
 Hutcheson's Girls' School at Glasgow has likewise a course of nine 
 years, and in the last of the secondary department are taught : English
 
 296 APPENDIX Y. 
 
 Bookkeeping, Drawiiifi, Phj'sical and Mathematical Geography, Natural 
 Philosophy (in the preceding classes also Latin and Mathematics), 
 French, German, Music, Domestic Economy, and lessons in Cookery 
 (in the preceding classes also Needlework and Cutting out). 
 
 From the time-table of the Stationer^ School, London (a middle- 
 class school). The highest class on Mondays from 9 to 9.15 Prayers 
 and the Scriptures (the same daily); from 9.15 to 10 English History ; 
 from 10 to 10.30 History ; from 10.30 to 11 Algehra and Trigonometry ; 
 from 11 to ] 1.30 Greek or German ; from 11.30 to 12 Greek or Algebra ; 
 from 12 to 12.30 is an interval. From 12.30 to 1 Drilling ; from 1 to 
 1.30 French; from 1.30 to 2 French; from 2 to 2.30 French; from 
 2.30 to 3 French. 
 
 
 
 
 , THE END. 
 
 -4 \ 
 
 
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