tion. 1. The rights and privileges which had been vested in the several religious communities, still remain in them, by virtue of the first section of the law, which amounts to an act of confirmation. Therefore, the rights of the churches, to lead in the election of ministers, and of other officers, and to maintain order and discipline, where they have been accustomed to exercise and enjoy those rights, still remain in them. 2. The established mode in which the societies in Boston have supported publick worship, is 赛 For the Anthology. ACCOUNT OF WESTMINSTER-SCHOOL OF ITS FOUNDATION, MASTERS, USHERS, PRESENT METHOD OF INSTRUCTION, EXPENSES OF EDUCATION, &c. &c. THE question of the superiority of private over publick education has of late been obtruded upon us in various shapes, till at length every one has been tired of attending to an argument which no discussion, however frequent, had advanced nearer to decision; and each determines it at present according to his own prejudices, or, if he has any children, by a wiser way, according to the disposition, or presumed capacity, of his own boy. The two questions of most importance with those resolutely beut against the method of publick education seem to be, an apprehension for the morals of their children, and a dread of the enormity of the expense. Whatever relates to the former part of this question should be examined with coolness, and, as far as possible, be determined without leaving behind a shadow of doubt; what respects the latter, I hope to prove to the satisfaction of any impartial man as totally groundless publick likewise preserved, together with the rights of the several bodies politick, of which they are composed. If there is any thing in those old laws, as undoubtedly there is, which is repugnant to the provisions of this act, it is repealed. For it is a rule in the construction of a clause in a statute, that it is to be taken with the other parts of the statute, and to be restrained or enlarged by them, so as to give, if possible, that force and efficacy to the whole, which was intended by the legislature. schools are not only less expensive than our present system of private education, but the remuneration to the masters from each boy is so small, that I am fearful lest some grains of contempt should adhere to them, for submitting to a drudgery so truly slavish, for rewards so comparatively inadequate. That the provision for religious education at Westminster-school is far from what has been represented, is proved by the late learned and venerable master, under whom the writer of these present observations is proud to say he himself received his education. Facts, unquestionable facts, have been submitted to the publick, who have received and judged the question with such deliberate candour, that little encouragement has been given any writer on the contrary side, since it seemed, as it really was, impossible to overturn what was advanced with such cogency of argument and strength of testimony. ces. As I presume it is the object of held by the secular clergy in proyour Magazine to discuss all ques- found detestation ; the laity had tions of general utility, that of ed- lost all respect both for them and ucation must necessarily force it their institutions, in the notorious self upon you with a kind of pre- profligacy of their characters, and scriptive claim : I shall, therefore, the atrocious enormity of their vi. require of you to submit to your Henry had but this last and readers the following account of fatal blow to give to their patron the most illustrious publick semi- at Rome, at once to tear up by the nary in Great-Britain. I trust it root the most stedfast hold of his will correct some errours into authority in that kingdom, and which many men of good inten- complete his vengeance to the full. tions have fallen, and give them a Most of them fell without a struga complete idea of a system of edu- gle, and with but ineffectual apcation which their ancestors estab- peals for mercy. But to overthrow lished, revered, and supported, . an establishment like that of Westfor more than two centuries from minster Abbey, at once so opulent, the present age. The method of so ancient, and so long esteemed instruction is but in a few trifling sacred ; which had to boast kings particulars different from what it for its founders and benefactors, then was. We are compelled to and in whose walls the ceremony a rigid observance of our statutes; of coronation had for centuries and if we sometimes differ from the been performed, appeared so eviletter, the spirit is universally pre- dently hazardous, that the rapacity served. of the monarch for once yielded to I confess myself unable to trace the necessity of the case, and it the exact æra in which Westmin- was spared a total dissolution. On ster-school was founded ; that in the surrender of the abbots and the antiquity of its origin it sur monks, the king converted it into passes all other seminaries in G. a cathedral. It did not even long Britain, is universally acknow- retain this form, since the see was ledged; but as the precise year of dissolved by Edward the Sixth, and its institution has puzzled many an- the college restored ; and, on the tiquaries, I may, at least, be allowed accession of Mary, it again resumto avoid a question so dark and in- ed the name of Westminster Abtricate. It has been thought coeval bey, with some small portion of its with the endowment of St. Peter's original endowments. It is, howcollegiate church, commonly called ever, indebted to Elizabeth for its Westminster Abbey. This was present institution. That princess originally a monastick institution, founded a college, which is the proand is permitted, I believe, to claim per name of the establishment, apfor its first founder, William Rufus. pointed a dean and twelve preben In the reign of Henry the Eighth, daries, with numerous petty cawhen the rich and overgrown mo- nons, and instituted a school for nasteries presented a tempting bait forty boys, who are called by the to a king,equally covetous and pro- name of king's scholars, and two fuse, the spoil of Westminster Ab- masters. bey, ainong the rest, did not escape Dr. Henry, in his history of his rapacity. The time was now Great-Britain, bas attributed the favourable for the utmost violence foundation of Westminster-school of innovation. The monks were to Henry the Eighth, and certain ly not with his usual accuracy. Ingulphus, the famous abbot of Crowland, who flourished in the time of Edward the Confessor, speaks of his being brought up at Westminster-school: this is indisputable authority of its antiquity. In the account, however, which I propose to give of this illustrious seminary, I do not in tend losing myself in any antiquarian research, but to dwell with, I hope, a pardonable minuteness on the modern form of its institution, and the present established mode of its education. I shall therefore divide the matter of my consideration into five heads. 1. Of the masters. 2. Of those who are called the town boys.-3. Of the king's scholars-4. Of the books read, and the method of instruction 5, and lastly, Of the vaca tions and expenses of education at this seminary. form is divided into two parts, the under and upper parts; the boys remain six months in each. From the under part to the upper part of a form, the removal is of course; but, when a boy is to pass onward from a lower form to a higher, he is said to "to stand out for his remove," and is examined as to his sufficiency by the head master, in the books which have been read in the form he is about to leave. Every form has its usher, except the upper third in the lower school, where the under master presides, and the sixth and seventh in the upper school, which are under the superintendence of the head master. Every boy in the under school pays to the under master three guineas a year, two to the upper master, and a guinea to the usher of his form. Every boy in the upper school pays five guineas yearly to the upper master, and a guinea to the usher of his form; and, should he leave school in the sixth or seventh form, he presents the master with ten guineas, if a town-boy. A king's scholar, when he leaves, presents the same sum to the upper master, and half as much to the under master; but this is merely optional, though never omitted. From these sources the salaries of the two masters are derived, with what is appropriated to them by the funds of the establishment. They have both handsome houses belonging to their office, and are required to give their attendance in school every day in the week, Sunday excepted; but there is a whole holiday on every saint's day, and day of par ticular commemoration, and a half holiday every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. It must not, however, be hastily concluded, that the boys are consequently idle from A these numerous holidays; the con * This establishment has at present two masters and six ushers. They are supported partly by the funds of the school, and partly by what is paid by the town-boys, the king's scholars having their education, as far as respects any gratuity to the masters, free of all expense. I should first have premised, that, for distinction's sake, there is an upper and a lower school; there is no separation between them otherwise than a bar, which runs across the middle of a very large room, in which all the boys meet together. From this bar a curtain formerly depended, as the division between the two schools, but, at present, there is no other distinction than that of the forms. There are seven forms or classes: The lower school contains three; they are as follow: the first or petty, the second, and the two thirds, both making one form together. trary is the case they are bur thened with a very heavy exercise on every half holiday, Tuesday ex cepted, which they are required to produce in the morning afterwards. And I can assure my reader, to escape this exercise, they would freely go without their half holiday. The hours, therefore, which many, inflamed with an ignorant rancour against publick schools, have sup. posed devoted to idleness and play, are, in reality, the most busy and instructive of any! The whole afternoon of the half holiday is spent in labouring the exercise for the next morning, which is first done in a foul book, and thence copied on a half sheet of paper, and presented to the usher, or master, be fore breakfast on the ensuing day. It is for want of examination that publick schools are accused of idleness. The ushers, as I have before said, are paid partly out of the fands, which are not, however, sufficient for their support; they have a guinea, therefore, yearly from every boy in the form to which they belong; and, as all the board ing houses must necessarily have an usher to keep peace and order among the boys, he obtains the same sum from each belonging to the house where he himself resides; and has besides many other ways of augmenting his salary. The ushers are generally clergymen, and all at present, I believe, are handsomely provided with church livings, or are fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge. They are men of extensive learning and high respectability, and, without Jessening their authority, live on the most friendly terms with the boys. 2d. I come next to consider the town boys. I must define them by negatives. They are such as are not king's scholars, who are inde pendent of the foundation, and who may be admitted or dismissed at the master's pleasure. They either belong to boarding-houses, or, if their friends reside near, live at their own homes, and then, except in school hours, are not subject to the jurisdiction of the mas ters or the ushers, which the boys who live in the boarding-houses are. In every respect these day boys have the same advantages of edu❤ cation with the rest, and may pass through the school, and obtain alf its profits for the moderate sum of six guineas per annum! These boys are held in equal respecta→ bility with the others; there is no difference that I know of; and many of the opulent families who reside all the year in London, pres fer sending their children in this manner. Never after this let us hear of the expense of a publick school education in Great-Bri» tain. 3. I now come to the king's scholars. This foundation is very different from that of any other school. They are forty in number, and are supplied by an annual election from the town boys. Thus every king's scholar must necessa rily have been a town boy, though no town boy, unless chosen, can be a king's scholar. The foundation draws to itself, as a centre, all the talents, the industry, and respectability of the whole school. It is where every father wishes to see his son; where greater attention is paid both to their morals and learning, since the superintendence over them is necessarily more strict. It is where the sons of the first families in the kingdom have been educated; where a Busby trained up his scholars; whence Cowley, Dryden, Smith, Halifax, and all the illustrious men of that age issued, and whence most of a those of the present have imbibed right of claim, and accept of those, the early seeds of education. whom the dean of Christ Church, Interest forms no part of their who bestows the studentships, does introduction into the college. It not elect to his own college. The is open to talents alone, and a fair election to Oxford is always a mere competition once a year, takes matter of interest, superiority of place between the boys who are talents is totally out of the quescandidates for the foundation. tion. But the boys who are stuThey generally stand out, as it is dious and prudent, may improve termed, from the fifth form, and the advantages of an election to commence their competition about Cambridge to an equal, and sometwo months previous to the time, times superiour profit. when the seniour boys on the foun- 4. I come now to my last condation are preparing for their elec- sideration, the books read, and the tion to Oxford or to Cambridge. method of instruction pursued A great number contend for ad- throughout the school. I have almission, and about eight, or more, ready mentioned the division of according to the vacancies, are ad- the under school into three forms, mitted. The king's scholars wear one of which I shall call a double caps and gowns to distinguish form, namely the third, it consistthem, are never above the age of ing of two distinct forms, and each fourteen when admitted ; they re- being divided into an upper and main four years on the establish- lower part, as with the rest of the ment, and then are either elected single forms. students of Christ Church, Osford, In the petty or first form, are or are chosen to Cambridge, where taught the rudiments of Latin they mostly succeed to a fellow- grammar. In the second, the ship. The king's scholars live in boys are taught to construe Æsop, what is called the dormitory, but Phædrus, and turn some sacred whether from caprice, pride, or I exercises into Latin. know not what, do not choose to In the under third, begins their receive all the profits of the foun- first instruction in prosody. They dation, but are content to dine in here commence their verse exerthe college hall only, and have cise, a species of education, with their other meals from the board- some so much the subject of cening-houses, of which they are term- sure, with others of applause, in ed half-boarders. Thus the educa- all our publick schools. The boys tion, as a king's scholar, is very read Ovid's Tristia, and Metamlittle cheaper, though, on many orphoses ; Cornclius Nepos is accounts, much to be preferred. their prose author. They turn the The dean and sub-dean of Christ Psalms, and sacred exercises, into Church attend once a-year, at Latin verse, on Thursdays, and Whitsuntide, to take their equal Saturdays, first beginning with portion of the seniour candidates what are called nonsense verses, and for election, as do likewise the making them approach, as fast as ñiaster of Trinity, and some fel- they are able, to an union of sense lows. They have their choice al- and metre. ternately, but as it is esteemed more In the upperthird, where the under advantageous for the boys to be stu- master presides, the same course dents of Christ Church, the Cam- of discipline is, for the most part, bridge electors always wave their pursüed; the exercises being only |