Images de page
PDF
ePub

for carnal consequence, are continually shared with poverty and distress in every form; whose revenues are, in short, only so many public deposits, of which they are the stewards. Who can be acquainted with these things, and suppose I should withhold all due veneration for an Establishment, which, whatever its frailties, is redeemed by so much active practical piety?

A few words seem called for in reference to the Mechanic Institutions. It is probable I have not allowed them their full meed of desert. If so, it has proceeded wholly from a misgiving that they are not likely to be kept up unless by a degree of persevering gratuitous energy in their promoters, which can hardly be looked for. Merely the first impulse will not, I think, be sufficient to keep the thing going. There must be a succession of impulses. The people themselves never volunteer more trouble than they can avoid; and it seems a golden dream to suppose their ardour for knowledge will overcome their vis inertiæ and the alehouse, if wholly left to themselves.

To suppose the wayward mob, of their own free accord, exerting themselves without any thing to set off against the temptations of vulgar gratification but the pure love of learning, is to beg the question, and to assume that this love of information already exists. To borrow a figure from their own class, it is putting the cart before the horse. And as to the promoters of these Institutions, though many will work with ardour to gain a name at the commencement of the experiment, it may not be so easy to find supplies when the rage has subsided. If it were worth while, nothing is easier than to shew the utter impotence of mere lecturing for the instruction of the promiscuous multitude.

In France, on the contrary, knowledge in every form is open to all-free and accessible as the fountain, where every one who thirsts is invited to come and drink, without money and without price. Here it is one of the chief ingredients in the cup of life the food constantly provided in the storehouse of the State for the use of all ranks. Hence a rage for knowledge is

become universal, perpetually undulating, and enlarging its circle to the remotest extremities of society.

I cannot conclude these remarks without an expression of my regret that the Duke d'Angoulême has not found a more flattering place in my humble page. I am extremely sorry, for his own sake, that he should have made the statement necessary; or, whether necessary or not, left himself open to it.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
« PrécédentContinuer »