Dr. Barnes. 161 



Dr. Barnes, F.R.S. 



The Rev. Dr. Barnes is not much written of as a Lanca- 

 shire force, but he certainly shows himself, in our Memoirs, 

 to be one of the most clear-headed of the men in the 

 Society in looking forward and seeing the defective educa- 

 tion of the time and its results. He had become the 

 minister of the Unitarian Chapel in Cross Street, a place 

 made to continue interesting by the labours of Mr. Rob- 

 berds, and still keeping its character under the care of Mr. 

 Gaskell. We are told of very early proposals to erect a 

 University in Manchester, long before the dates with which 

 we have been occupying ourselves. The plan was formed 

 in early times, when there were few people and little money. 

 It was, unfortunately, unsuccessful, although the most of 

 our universities, and until lately our public schools, were 

 founded in days when the country was to a large extent 

 uninhabited and when commerce scarcely existed. A 

 university would perhaps have given, in the opinion of 

 some, a broader basis to the manufactures of Manchester, 

 which have been left in the hands of uneducated geniuses. 

 This is partly the reason that so much credit has been 

 given to the opinion that learning is prejudicial ; but, on 

 the whole, it has been good for the world that the useful 

 arts and book learning have worked separately for a time, 

 so that each has learnt to respect the other. Can we find 

 the men who are now living with all the advantages of 

 education doing their work in such a superior manner that 

 they are entitled to look down upon their fathers ? We 

 know it is still true that the men who are self-educated 

 come into the town and prosper, and too many educated 



