THE 
MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 

For MAY, 1798." 
; Dobe. 

Aboutibe middle of Fuly will be publifbed the suPPLEMENTARY NUMBER fo the FirtTH 
Votums of this work, which, befides the Title, Indexes, and a variety of valuable 
papers, will contain a critical and comprehenfive Retrofpectof all the Books publifhed 
during the laf? fix months. 
Complete Sets, or any former Nuenbers of this Work, may be had of all Bookjellers. 

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. ° 
To the, Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR 
TAKE up my pen with the more 
willingnefs, to give you fome de- 
tail of the rife, progrefs, and prefent re-~ 
gulations of two charity-{chools for girls” 
in this city, as one. of your correfpond- 
ents, in a paper figned M. Sy. in: your 
Magazine for February (page 87), has. 
intimated a with to fee fuch communica-— 
tions; and moreover, becaufe it appears, | 
from the attention paid to many late pub- 
lications onfimilar fubjeéts, that theré is 
a difpofition in the public mind, to take 
under confideration whatever may have the 
benefit of the poorer claffes for its object. 
The firft of thefe fchools, ufually de- 
nominated the grey coat fchool from the 
uniform worn by the children educated in 
it, was founded in the year 1705, forthe ° 
At the fame ° 
admiffion of zo poor girls. { 
time a charity {chool was founded for 40 
boys, denominated, for.a like reafon, the 
blue coat fchool. " 
Thefe fchools, like many others in the 
kingdom, feem to have. been’ founded 
merely for the purpofe of providing a 
better education for a given number of 
paz children, than they could have in the 
“houfes of their parents or friends, or ina 
public poor houfe ;. itis obvious therefore, | 
_ that if owing to any defect either in the 
original plan, or in the way in which the 
plan is executed, the children in fuch 
fchools are not better educated than they 
would otherwife have been, the pious and 
- benevolent object of the founders is not 
attained.” . mo se 
It happened 
. a gentleman of ‘great relpectability, who 
,attended the grey coat fchool in,a medical 
line, lamented to myfelf, incidentally in 
_ converfation, that the girls educated in it 
Were-in general extremely ‘unhealthy, and 
’ dwarfith in their ftature, and that after 
’ they deft it, they ufually turned;out ill. 
At the fame ‘time he mentioned as:a 
fat, that there were at.that time in this _ 
* eity no lefs than eight unhappy’ victims 
MonruLy Mac. No. xxxi, ---.-~ 
» children’s Jabour. 
about’15 years ago, that. . sound 
. for four years; to be found with meat and 
whio had been brought up in it, that de- 
pended on proftitution for fupport. 
It ftruck me; that effects fo general 
muit originate from fome capital fault 
either in the conftitution of the {chool 
itfelf, or in the management of it; and 
though I did not then live in York,.¥ 
formed the refolution of taking the earlieft . 
‘opportunity of endeavouring thoroughly 
to inveftigate the fubject: This oppor~ 
tunity occurred the following year; when 
I came to refide in this city, juft at the 
time when a commodious new building 
had: been ere&ted for the reception of the 
girls; and I was joined by \fome very. 
refpectable ladies of ‘my acquaintance, 
who were equally felicitous with mytfelf te 
find out the caufe of thefe misfortunes, ° 
-and to fuggeft a remedy for them. I will 
not trouble you, fir, with the particulars . 
of the fteps taken to effeét this purpofe,: — 
“but will merely give’ an outline of the 
plan on which the inftitution had. till that 
time been conduéted, of the defects we 
difcovered in it, of the alterations we pro- 
pofed, and which the.committee of gen- 
‘tlemen who had -hitherto managed its 
_affairs, were pleafed to adopt, and laftly, 
of what has-been the refult. 
The girls at the grey coat fchool were 
at that time boarded with a mafter and 
-miftrefs, who, in addition to their ftipend, 
were. allowed..to reap the benefit of the 
r. ‘The.children were to 
be taught by the matter to read and write, 
and. fome’ time before their leaving the 
{chool, were to be employed in houfehold . 
‘affairs; in order to fit them for-fervants. 
They were afterwards bound apprentice 
cloaths, to fuch*perfons as’ might apply. 
for them, -— ‘pine aeabge 
In the firft place, it appeared to us, that 
thé boarding of the children, as it made it © 
the: intereft of the mafter.and muttrefs to 
abridge them. in the quantity of their 
food, and. to regard the cheapnefs of it, 
rather than its wholefomene(fs, was an in- 
eligible mode of providing for them; and 
Pe _ might, 
