Education as connected icith Agriculture. 
75 
not merely an .annual prize, would give continuity, as well as 
1 i fe to the course of study. 
The bare mention of such scholarships is very suggestive to 
those who are familiar with the fate of such endowments at 
Cambridge and elsewhere. Here in many instances the unfore- 
seen change in the value of money, in some, want of equity 
in the interpretation of Statutes, has converted that provision, 
which in primitive times was a fair maintenance for a scholar, 
into a trifling honoi'afium. 
Hence Exhibitions to the Universities, which once served to 
leaven the grammar schools to which they were attached, now go 
a-begging, or are not filled up. These institutions once gave an 
adequate impulse to the education of the whole class of yeomen, 
when it occupied (relatively to the learned professions, to com- 
merce, and to trade) a more important position than at present. 
We have, therefore, not so much to deal with a new want, as 
to meet the defects which decay, social changes, and abuses have 
wrought in a once sufficient provision. 
It may be asked, Why not, as of old, connect such provision 
with the Universities ? Various considerations, however, lead to 
the conclusion that it is easier, if not better, to create new 
machinery than to attempt to resuscitate the old. 
Rightly or wrongly our ancient Universities seem hardly to 
desire to attract to themselves really poor scholars, unless they 
' be of remarkable ability. Without a revolution in the social 
habits of the students, they could hardly there find a place ; and 
such habits, if not beyond control, yield but slowly, and then 
to example or religious principle rather than to prudential 
motives ; and, lastly, on such large and rich bodies any new 
influence must be exerted on a large scale if it is to be effectual. 
If, then, we turn to such new institutions as that which "the 
genius of Mr. Brereton has planned, and his liberality, energy, 
and judgment has established,"* we may yet gather for them 
some useful warnings from the history of our old foundations. 
The importance of endowments in real jjroperty will be one 
such lesson. If all our old benefactions had assumed this form 
instead of being often money-charges on real property, and if 
the proceeds had been equitably administered, in all probability 
the constitution of our body of students at the old Universities 
would have rested on a far broader basis than at present. 
On such benefactions, however, the Statute of Mortmain 
imposes a salutary check. A special charter might remove such 
difficulty, but then it would further swell the list of preliminary 
* Taken, nearly verbatim, from the late Lord Fortescue's inscription on 
Mr. Brereton's bust, presented by him to the Devon County School. 
