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years happily enough , in a family , gets a little weary of the routine of the schoolroom . Such things have been ! She finds that " while teaching the young idea how to shoot , " her own ideas have forgotten to grow , her mind is rather falling back , and when the xumour reaches her of the new doings in London , and she figures to herself what a year might be passed at Harley-street College , under the guidance of Professors Maurice , Clark , and Nicolay , or at Bedfordsquare , under that of Professors Scott , Newman , and Booth , and Professors Sterndale Bennett and Hullah ; at either the refreshing change of scene and habitthe " repeoplingof the mind "—the improved methods of teaching—the contrast becomes too painful to be borne !
The necessaries becoming a gentlewoman are all she cares for , and these ( without one well-earned shilling ' s waste ) and communion daily with such minds , working on hers for her express good , is to her an opening of Paradise . And if a dream of a concert of good music , or of a play or two of Shakspeare , rises like a star in the dim horizon , we would not be severe on such extravagance , but anticipate , as she may , the renewal of labour after her year of that best rest , a change of employment , with a large accession of knowledge and experience .
Miss Martineau speaks of her scheme as of fifteen years old . I have had my vision , too , but it is the offspring of Queen ' s College , founded on the charming history of the Rosinas of Turin ( a sketch may be found in Murray's Handbook ) , and innumerable little societies on the Continent for charitable and religious purposes . How glorious would be the spectacle of ten or twelve pupils , varying , it may be , from fifteen to thirty years of age , uniting together
to try how cheaply it is possible for ladies to live , in respect of furniture , dress , and the table ; a small sum advanced at the beginning , an equal division every quarter , and , as often , a Queen or Padrona elected , with almost unlimited power—for the sake of devoting themselves heart and mind , for one , two , or three years , to a course of study and mental improvement . " What balm to the eyes , what joy to the hearts of the lady-visitors of the colleges ! I am , Sir , respectfully yours , No . 47 .
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AN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE . 14 , Great Guildford-street , Union-street , Borough , Oct . 29 , 1850 . Sm , —I have been requested by the committee of the Peoples' Educational Institute , meeting at the above address , to ask for a small space in your valuable Journal in which to lay their position before your readers ; hoping they may render us some assistance by the loan or gift of books , or , from those who are able , a Sunday evening lecture . " We instituted our society on the 24 th of September , 1848 , and commenced putting by our subscriptions for the
purmists of ignorance and bigotry than it has ever yet been ; this we propose to do by the distribution and loan of tracts , and by the means formerly mentioned : and we cannot call for the sympathies of your readers in a better manner than the poet Longfellow has done when he sings : — ' Were half the power that fills the world with terror , Were half the wealth bestowed on camp and courts Given to redeem the human mind from error , There were no need of arsenals and forts . " And we may add prisons and poor-houses . In the hope that we may do our part towards the consummation of so great an object , we ask the aid of all who can aid us . Signed , on behalf of the Committee , James Benny , Hon . Sec .
pose of taking a place suitable for a reading and lecture room ; we soon raised funds enough to do so , and hired rooms , but the dishonesty of our secretary nearly broke us up ; we then met on Sunday mornings , for the purpose of discussing any subjects of importance ; we h ave again taken rooms , where we have a reading-room , open every evening except Monday , and a class and lecture room , open occasionally . The neighbourhood is one in which ignorance prevails to a very great extent ; and had we etermined itation
the means of carrying on a d ag we could speedily raise some persons from the lethargy to all progress under which they now labour . Our principles are that Ignorance is the greatest evil with which man has to contend , and that the encrease of real intellect among the lowest classes would secure the encrease of virtue , and the consequent decrease of vice and error . We allow free discussion upon all subjects , and , though we admit that humanity is liable to err , we believe humanity commits errors more frequently from not reasoning than from
rea-Boning . Hut , though we do wish for the encrease of intelligence and knowledge , we do not wish man to become pedantic , and it lias , therefore , been our object to eombino amusement with instruction , and it is our intention to afford tho working classes an opportunity of changing their amusements from an irrational to n rational character . To provide a place where , instead of the equalling of beer-shop solo singers , men and women might hoar songs of real improvement , where , instead of bawling , unmeaning , and discordant ehorusaes , they might have choruses full of musii : and
harmony : where , instead of preparing men for death as the . gin-palaces do , they might be prepared for vigorous and useful life . For tho want of this vitality ninny grout uml good reforms have been completely lost / mid will yet be lost , till some power not only wakes tho poor to a sense of their degradation and poverty , but gives them the power to work out problems for their benefit . It is true wo possess numerous menus by which tho condition of the people could be improved ; but of what avail are they if the peuj > le ilo not know , if they lire not prepared to curry them out . It is then ourhope that we t-hull be able to carry the li ^ Ut uf knowledge further into the
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THE PROPOSED PIONEER ASSOCIATION . Queen ' s Head-passage , Paternoster-row , Oct . 27 , 1850 . Sir , —Your correspondent , Frederick A . Creed , in the Leader of October 19 , lays down a plan for a society , the successful formation of which he thinks would be very easy . His plan is certainly not remarkable for originality , and its practicability I very much question . That there are many young men in London anxious to devote some of their time to the cause of progress I well know ; but the number that are really able to go forth as teachers after the manner proposed by Mr . Greed are so few , that I am led to infer that the good they would do would be but small .
Citing the mode of advocacy adopted by the teetotallers as worthy of imitation , I think is disastrous : for it must be apparent to every one who has had the misfortune to hear the teetotallers at their public meetings how easy it is for a good cause to be sacrificed through bad advocacy . It is not sufficient for a principle to be good to ensure its acceptance by the public—its advocates must be able to show that it is worthy of adoption .
The manner in which Mr . Creed talks of forming braneh associations in various parts of the metropolis would lead persons to suppose that there were really no places open in London where the principles of political and social progress might be advocated . But I beg to state for ydur correspondent ' s information , and that of other persons who may not be cognizant of the fact , that there are several institutions of progress now in existence that would readily afford every facility to young men anxious to do something for their fellow-creatures , either by lectures or public discussions . There are institutions of the character Mr . Creed is desirous of forming in nearly every part of London . At No . 2 , Little
Deanstreet , Soho , a public discussion is held every luesday ; at No . 1 , Warner-place , Hackney-road , the institution is devoted two or three nights a week to the same object ; the Carlisle-street Institution , Edgeware-road , is well known for its animated debates every Saturday night ; the Free Enquirers ' Society , British Coffee-house , Edgeware-road , has a debating class ; the Institute of Progress , No . 1 , George-street , Sloane-square , has a public discussion every Friday evening ; and in John-street , Fitzroysquare , Webber-street , Blackfriars-road , and other places , there are halls which afford opportunities to the friends of the working classes to explain their views and enforce their claims .
I think that a course might be pursued by all who axe anxious to promote the cause of progress , that would produce more beneficial results than can arrive , at present , from starting new societies . My suggestion is this—that , instead of starting new societies , Mr . Creed , and all who are able and willing to join htm , should immediately enrol themselves as members of that institution which is in their immediate vicinity , and devote their time and energies to the promotion
of its interest , and thus assist in placing upon a sure and firm basis those institutions that are now in a feeble and struggling state . The Islington part of London lost a valuable institute that was open for some years in Frederick-place , Gos well-road , entirely iorthe wnnt of a few more members . And if comparatively old institutions become closed through want of assistance , how much mure unlikely is it that new ones will succeed ?
There is one point in , particular I should like to call attention to , which is this : —that all young men who wish to come before the public as advocates of any particular views , should , before they do so , make themselves masters of the subject on which they propose to descant , should bo able to speak tolerably correctly , and should carefully discipline themselves that they may be able to avoid all exaggeration . Now , I know there are , comparatively few who have done this
among the working classes — licnce the disgrace and almost utter ruin that have been brought upon nearly every cause advocated by the people . Those disastrous consequences might bo avoided by young men joining mutual instruction societies nml mechanics' institutions , nml becoming educated themselves before putting themselves forward us teachers of others . They would then find tho cause of progress assisted in a twofold degree . A i . 'STI N HuIA'O . * K K .
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Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and nnii ™» of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret an I try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review . y nd
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A pleasant announcement to many readers will be that of Leigh Hunt ' s resumption of the London Journal , the most delightful of all the periodicals of its day , the cessation of which caused an unusual regret ; as a literary journal its success was brilliant , but as a commercial speculation it failed partly from want of capital , but mostly from want of management . We understand that the new journal will be in the hands of experienced and practical men , so that nothing will be demanded of Leigh Hunt but that which he so well can give grace , fancy , wit , and wisdom .
Another new journal is The Christian Socialist , emanating from the party which has already given examples of its earnestness in the cause by starting the Associations now flourishing in London , and by the publication of those striking Tracts on Christian Socialism , the sixth of which { Prevailing Idolatries , or Hints for Political Economists ) has just appeared . Let us hope that this new journal will not confine itself to theoretic Socialism , but apply
itself to the questions of the day . One striking example of the mode in which Socialists may properly descend into the arena of politics is to be seen in the admirable newspaper . La Republique , edited by M . Eugene Bareste ; the new journal , The Christian Socialist , cannot , of course , pretend to rival a newspaper , but it may , nevertheless , learn from La Hepublique the practicability of advantageously uniting abstract discussion with concrete example .
Charles Knight is making preparations for 1851 by commencing a Cyclopaedia of the Industry of all Nations , and a Cyclopedia of London—the latter an abridgement in one volume of the six volumes of London , with corrections and additions . How wise we shall all be at the close of that eventful year ! Wider and wider the extending circles of knowledge expand , each creating one greater than itself , like the circles in still water when a stone is thrown
into it ; andjnothing can check this progress so long as Freedom of Thought is preserved among us . But will that Freedom be preserved ? Are we not in danger of the Pope ? May not the Gal . ii , i : os and Giordano Brunos of our day enact their parts in the tragic farce of Science persecuted by Religion ? May not the Inquisition be reestablished for the confusion of heretics , and the demonstration of that truth now boldly proclaimed by the Primate of Ireland , viz ., that the diameter of the sun is no more than two yards , although arrogant Science ( always infidel and presumptuous !) deny it ? These fears assail the timid Protestant , and
he raises a fierce alarum of war to the death with Papistry . Unwise Protestant ! The safeguard from Papistry and all other error is absolute freedom of opinion , and you violate that condition by your intolerance of Papistry ! Set science free from the trammels of bigotry , admit that all truth must be God ' s truth , and the Pope may issue as many bulls as he lists j the demonstrations of science will always silence the assertions of traditionary dogmatism . If Catholicism spreads rapidly and threatens to reconquer her lost dominions ,
whose the fault ? There is—as we often say—no logical alternative but Absolute Authority or Absolute Freedom . The Church of Rome claims Authority , and many who feel the need of that repose pass over to it from our Church in distress of mind , because in our Church they have not the legitimate alternative of Freedom . Luther's antagonism to Home was the antagonism of the liberty of private judgment against the assumed Authority of the Cliurcn ; but , although this was the vital principle- of the Reformation , it has never been active otherwise than in opposition to Rome ; and
the very men who scorn the pretensions of Rome on the ground of the sacred ness of free thought , arc deaf to any claims for liberty of thought when that liberty leads others away from lhair opinions . The difference between the Church of Rome and the Church of Kngland was said—b y Swift , we believe—to be that the one is infallible and the other never in the wrong . We proclaim liberty of thought and punish the slaves who emancipate themselves . We allow freedom so long as it is " orthodox . " We violate the very principle of our Reformation , and then wonder at the progress u £ Catholicism ! Jn the shape of literary news we have nothing
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760 Wl ) $ 3 LeaU $ V * [ Saturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 2, 1850, page 760, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1857/page/16/
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