a duty to pass by the Poorest of the Poor. The Inspector's services were therefore offered, and in each instance received with thankfulness and courtesy; every attention was paid to himself personally, and the utmost facility given that he might be able to form an accurate opinion of the

SCHOOLS OF THE PARISH UNIONS.

A Union-house has been built near each of the following places, and one or more schools is attached to each of them; Axbridge, Bath, Bedminster, Bridgwater, Chard, Clutton, Frome, Keynsham, Langport, Shepton Mallet, Taunton, Wellington, Wells, Williton, Wincanton, Yeovil. The number of Schools is thirty-two: most of the Unions pay a Master as well as a Mistress, and generally a room is expressly appropriated to the school. The following Table will give a view of the statistics of the different Schools.

*Note. The merely Infant schools and school-rooms are not included in this account, because they are not places of instruction, but are nurseries.

The numbers of the children vary considerably according to the time of year; when the Inspector examined the schools, the children were stated to be unusually few. The instruction is generally confined to reading, the simple rules of arithmetic, writing, spelling, the church catechism, and bible history. The Masters, with three exceptions, were in all cases fairly sufficient for their office, and in some, they were very good and well suited to their work. It was not equally so with the Mistresses, who certainly were not proportionately so well prepared to instruct. The Schoolrooms were frequently large and airy, but others were small and low.

The preceding account may seem not likely to promise much, but such a judgment would be altogether erroneous. The method of forming a true opinion of the value of the Union Schools would be, to consider what otherwise would have been the state of those who were then assembled in them. From the classes to which they belong, it is easy to imagine the condition in which they would have been placed; therefore the value of the institutions is to be estimated by the double test, of the evil from which they are so far rescued, in addition to the positive benefit which they at present receive.

Take the best class of the inmates of a Union-house, the honest and respectable Poor, whom Poverty and Destitution have overtaken without being summoned by their vices or crimes what is to become of their children? The honest, though poverty-stricken Parent, sees them weakened in body, the foundations of disease laid, herding with the profligate and the base, untaught in what is good, and rapidly learning lessons of vice which she well knows no after culture can root out. Not one of those evils can she prevent; sufficiency of food she cannot give; home, with famine lodging in it, is no place where they will stay willingly; for any teaching, it is beyond her power to pay;

and though they have little to eat, childhood can still play, and they have houses and streets and courts and alleys for their play-ground; they become the companions of all that is bad; the plague spreads by its own inherent malignity; they are in the way of thorough corruption, and candidates for the lessons of the practised thief. To a parent in such a situation, the Union-school is a blessing.

Look again, at the children deserted by their parents; at those destitute of parents; at those, who are the offspring of shame. The Union-school restores to them a better Father; or, is in place of a Parent; or, gives them parental lessons for which they need not to blush. When we reflect on the almost-certainty of a most ruinous moral condition for them without such schools, then it is, that with the approval of our understanding and the applause of our heart, we are thankful for their instruction: and we have abundant reason to praise God, that He has put it into the hearts and impressed it upon the consciences of Christian Guardians, that while they feed and clothe the hungry and the naked, they must also, from the same Christianity, teach the young.

While speaking so strongly of the good capable of being bestowed by the Union-school, I take it for granted that all proper care is taken to separate the Boys from the Men, and especially the Girls from the Women. If this be not done, whatever instruction they may receive, their morals must be corrupted; for what is more debasing, than the brutal talk of profligate men? or more thoroughly destructive of purity than the gross allusions and conversation of immoral women? If this separation be not complete, it is a sad and awful deficiency: awful, because it is making morals a question of money-shall we spend so much for the purpose of striving to keep them undefiled? or, let them take their chance and save the expence? I cannot for a moment suppose, that while the Guardians provide for the instruction, they overlook the morals; therefore I must cordially again say, if these things be so, their schools are blessings.

But the praise due to the Union-schools does not depend merely upon the evils which they prevent, or from which they withdraw the children; it also arises from the positive good which they bestow. The reading is generally most respectable, with a fluency and accent which show that there are both readiness and comprehension; the spelling, especially among the boys, was usually accurate: the writing frequently very good with some individuals and in a few particular schools, the arithmetic was good and of a higher quality than that which formed the staple of the majority: in very few cases was arithmetic taught to the girls, or if taught, very imperfect: their knowledge of Scripture narrative was often very considerable; of Scripture Doctrine, as accurate as could reasonably be expected; of moral obligation, most praise-worthy to those under whose instruction they had come: the catechism was assiduously taught, and though in some instances neither the teaching nor the learning was intelligent, yet generally much knowledge had been acquired and much profit derived.

The appearance of the children was highly satisfactory; not because of their being dressed up for the occasion, but from the indubitable signs of health in their countenances and cheerfulness in their looks. One especial benefit, incalculable in the amount of its probable good fruits, was the good Discipline maintained. Enquiries were made from the Master and Mistress of each Union, and most explicit testimony borne to this fact, of the exceedingly few cases of children being returned to the Union from the situations which had been obtained for them, because of bad conduct.

The observations which have here been made, concerning the benefits to the children, and on their appearance, of course can only fully apply to those who have been residing in the House for some time; and must be much modified, when used of those who are only occasional inmates and to some Unions they will apply considerably

more than to others.

The instruction being regular, and not liable to be interrupted by the whims of the parent, or from their desire of making a trifling gain by the labor of their children, will account for more being gained in a wellconducted Union-school, even in the few hours devoted to teaching, than in many other places where more time is consumed and more is professed to be taught. Two or three weeks holiday, then a short time at school, frequently repeated, break the heart of the Master and thicken the head of the child :—it is only uninterruptedness of communication which will secure the certainty of an impression; and regularity will maintain it in its hold, and cause teaching to result in knowledge.

The day after the examination of each Union-school, the Diocesan Inspector forwarded a letter, addressed to the Chairman and intended for the information of the Board, stating his opinion of the condition of the School, of its deficiencies or its excellencies, as the case may be; making such suggestions as seemed to be needed; and putting the Board in possession of those facts, which were necessary for its guidance in dealing with an institution, supported by themselves and earnestly desired to be efficient.

I cannot conclude these observations upon Union Schools, without drawing particular attention to those of the Bath Union, such as they existed when I visited them in the the Autumn of 1846.-A very large Boys' school, with an unusual number of boys above 11 and 12 years old; the guardians evidently not having been anxious to send them out to situations before they had gained some physical strength to endure their work. At the first view of the School-room it appeared almost fantastic: the walls and ceiling were covered with scrolls and ornaments, maps, diagrams, and sentences, drawn in colors upon the walls. What does this portend, was the thought; but no particular observation was made.