XXX 



PKOCEEDINGS OF THE 



" On Professor Henslow's arrival at Hitcham the parish consisted 

 of upwards of 1000 persons, scattered over more than 4000 acres ; 

 and the poor-rates amounted to 27s. per head, women and children 

 of all ages included ! Moreover parish relief was not unfrequently 

 levied by bands of 40 or 50 able-bodied labourers, who intimidated 

 the previous rector into instant compliance with their demands. 

 The church was all but empty, and baptism and the marriage 

 ceremony were practically regarded as superfluities or luxuries ; 

 whilst with regard to food, clothing, and the means of observing 

 the decencies of life, the inhabitants were far below the average 

 scale of the peasant class in England. His first step was to attach 

 the labourers to himself, and induce them to regard him as a 

 friend. For this purpose, being a capital pyrotechnist, he invited 

 them to the rectory lawn in the evening and amused them with 

 fireworks, and then gradually introduced to their notice many 

 simple objects of domestic use hitherto unknown to them ; and 

 having once gained their confidence he lost no time in setting to 

 work on a plan that should tell at once both on their bodies 

 and minds ; knowing well that it would be necessary to raise 

 their condition to that of rational beings, and secure some feel- 

 ing of independence among them, before he could act with effect 

 on the class which held them in bondage. To this end he 

 caused a school-room to be built, and a mistress appointed — both 

 on a very humble scale, for he had but slender support from his 

 parishioners ; indeed, greatly as the building and the stipend of 

 the mistress are now increased, it has been mainly through his 

 liberality ; his subscriptions having often doubled those from all 

 other persons. In the school he so arranged the method of teach- 

 ing, that the sympathies as well as the faculties of the children 

 were aroused by a combination of the religious and secular elements. 

 The children were taught their duty to Grod, to one another, and 

 to themselves ; the latter by means that were long thought Uto- 

 pian, but are now recognized as efficacious beyond precedent ; we 

 allude to the introduction of Natural History as a means of sharp- 

 ening the observing and reasoning faculties, and giving the chil- 

 dren an increased reverence for their Creator's power, a know- 

 ledge of common objects, and a pursuit in which they can take 

 equal interest in the fields or at home. 



" Professor Henslow's method of teaching village children botany, 

 and the success that has attended it as an educational measure, 



quite aporl from the information given, have often been noticed; 

 it is now tlx; theme of universal praise, it has been taken up by 



