334 ON THE TENDENCY AND PROSPECTS OF 



flatter the workino^ classes — call them " intelligent artizans," and 

 other pleasant denominations, — and would give them a certain 

 share of abstract information to amuse their leisure hours. 



But again — there are some who boldly say that wherever 

 faculties exist, they may be safely cultivated ; — and who fear not 

 that the great social system will suffer damage, even should the 

 gradual destruction of castes be the consequence of such cultiva- 

 tion. Observing the nascent desire of improvement, they see no 

 evil, and apprehend no danger from its increase, and would urge 

 it forward as the probable means of extensively communicating 

 general happiness; interposing their assistance as guides, not 

 standing in the way as checks. They would lay down rail-wags 

 — not hang on drags. They unhesitatingly declare, with the 

 enlightened and liberal Chandos Leigh, whose words I have in 

 another place already quoted,* "The people cannot easily know 

 too much; — they may easily know too little." Too little for the 

 best interests of well-conducted society. 



" I wish," said King George the Third, some five-and-thirty 

 years ago — and the saying was a remarkable and a bold one, as 

 coming at that period from an individual holding a station so 

 little advantageous for the cultivation of liberal views — " I wish 

 that every poor person in my dominions may be enabled to read 

 his bible." The wish, emanating from such a quarter, could not 

 be gainsaid or directly opposed, and Lancasterian Schools and 

 National Schools were established. Very many would probably 

 have excused the King, had he been less liberal, but the word 

 had gone forth ; and it was unperceived that reading alone would 

 not satisfy. The determination of the people to acquire more 

 than elementary knowledge afterwards induced Lord Brougham 

 to advocate the foundation of Mechanics' Institutions. He 

 brought into free and specific action the desire that was kindled. 

 He encouraged the people to infuse mind and intelligence into 

 what was before almost a mechanical operation. To read, — to 

 write — to cast accounts — though too much by two thirds for 

 many quietistic politicians, was far too little for the excited 

 wishes of those who were becoming aware of their mental powers, 

 and the class studies of Mechanics' Institutions took a more ex- 

 tended and academic form, and are now conducted in a mode 

 that — time for time — is equal to any thing than can be provided 

 for the youth of any station. Nor are the gates of science less 

 freely opened, in the lectures that are delivered; nor is their 

 circuit bounded by any narrow or selfish considerations. 



Who expects that a course of lectures on Astronomy, on 

 Geology, on Acoustics, or Electro-Magnetism, will cause a man 

 to become a more skilful workman at the stamp or the lathe — 

 more useful as a clerk or a packer ? I am not content that our 

 ingenious population should be taught mechanics and chemistry 



* See the Report of the Mechanic's Institution inserted in our last number. 



