20 LAY SERMONS, ESSAYS, AND REVIEWS. [in. 



are not as open to reproach on this score as the workmen ; and 

 whether, perchance, this may not indicate that it is not education 

 which lies at the bottom of the matter ? 



Once more, these people, whom there is no pleasing, venture to 

 doubt whether the glory, which rests upon being able to undersell 

 all the rest of the world, is a very safe kind of glory whether 

 we may not purchase it too dear ; especially if we allow education, 

 which ought to be directed to the making of men, to be diverted 

 into a process of manufacturing human tools, wonderfully adroit 

 in the exercise of some technical industry, but good for nothing 

 else. 



And, finally, these people inquire whether it is the masses 

 alone who need a reformed and improved education. They ask 

 whether the richest of our public schools might not well be made 

 to supply knowledge, as well as gentlemanly habits, a strong 

 class feeling, and eminent proficiency in cricket. They seem to 

 think that the noble foundations of our old universities are 

 hardly fulfilling their functions in their present posture of half- 

 clerical seminaries, half racecourses, where men are trained to 

 win a senior wranglership, or a double-first, as horses are trained 

 to win a cup, with as little reference to the needs of after-life in 

 the case of the man as in that of the racer. And, while as 

 zealous for education as the rest, they affirm that, if the education 

 of the richer classes were such as to fit them to be the leaders 

 and the governors of the poorer; and, if the education of the 

 poorer classes were such as to enable them to appreciate really 

 wise guidance and good governance ; the politicians need not fear 

 mob-law, nor the clergy lament their want of flocks, nor the 

 capitalists prognosticate the annihilation of the prosperity of the 

 country. 



Such is the diversity of opinion upon the why and the where 

 fore of education. And my hearers will be prepared to expect 

 that the practical recommendations which are put forward are 

 not less discordant. There is a loud cry for compulsory education. 

 We English, in spite of constant experience to the contrary, 

 preserve a touching faith in the efficacy of acts of parliament ; 



