260 Natioiis lately become Literary. [Ch. XXVI. 



especially in the states of Massachusetts and Con- 

 necticut *, though they took their rise in the 

 seventeenth century, yet underwent such modi- 

 fications, and received so many improvements in 

 the eighteenth, that it would be improper to pass 

 them without notice in this retrospect f. These 

 establishments have been carried to such a de- 

 gree of perfection, that in New England, and 

 particularly in the two states above mentioned, 

 scarcely an individual can be found, of either 

 sex, who has not been instructed in reading, 

 writing, and arithmetic, and who does not habi- 

 tually read more or less in newspapers, and a 

 few of the best books on religion and morality. 

 Attempts have been made in some of the middle 

 and southern states to adopt similar plans of ge- 

 neral education; but though much has been 

 done, in several of these states, towards render- 

 ing the elements of English literature a boon 

 within the reach of all classes in the communit}-, 

 yet the habits of the people not being so favour- 

 able to the diffusion of knowledge, and their cha- 



■^' The School system of Connecticut is generally considered 

 the most perfect in the United States. The parish schools in 

 that state amount to at least twelve hundred, containing on an ave- 

 rage fortj/ scholars each, or forty-eight thousand in the whole. 

 Next to that of Connecticut, in point of excellence, we majr 

 place the school system of Massachusetts. The number of 

 schools in that state is not known to the author. He presumes, 

 however, that it cannot be less than in Connecticut. 



f The author takes pleasure in acknowledging his obligation 

 to Noah Webster, jun., esq., for some valuable information re- 

 specting the literature of Coimecticut during the eighteenth 

 century; and especially for a more satisfactory account of the 

 >ohool establishments m that state than he had before received. 



