we already see the true distinction taken between training and teaching, education and mere instruction; we already see all things beginning to be regarded, which go towards the foundation of a prudent, a virtuous, and a Christian character: we already see the philosophy of the subject, and the statistics of the subject, carried forward together, and tending to the completion and perfection of each other.

Since the foregoing pages were written and printed, we have had opportunities of knowing, that a plan for the formation and superintendence of intermediate schools has been matured. It would, however, be presumptuous and unbecoming in us even to touch upon the specific proposals, which, we believe, will be forthwith announced from the quarter to which they properly belong. Yet we may state our conviction, that the scheme will be found one emanating from the right source, true to the cause of Christianity and the National Church; yet holding itself aloof from political faction, and seeking to enlist in its favour enlightened and conscientious men of the two great parties in the state: -clear and well-defined in its principles, yet not bound in its executive and administrative details, by a code of narrow stipulations :-distinct in its object, but, as to its means, able to take advantage of all the various agencies, and instrumentalities, and modes of proceeding, which may present themselves from time to time;-malleable into many shapes, susceptible of continual accessions and modifications, capable of almost infinite adaptation to the diversity of localities and circumstances:-holding friendly relations with the Church Societies already in existence, but itself having a Central Institution, and not a Society by name, for the basis of its operations :-effecting its purposes, partly by the introduction of a new machinery, partly by the adoption and improvement of the old, and wishing, therefore, to attach to itself the conductors of the present Commercial Schools, and to secure their cordial co-operation, rather than to injure their interests, as also to assist, rather than subvert the schools themselves, by affording to them encouragement and sanction, without a vam parade of patronage, by receiving them into union and alliance, by exhibiting a model in conformity with which they may be regulated, and by suggesting beneficial changes and extensions in their system of instruction.

Such, we imagine, will be the eventual character of the proposed design. The Bishop of London has already alluded to it in the

preface of his sermon on " National Education," recently preached at St. Martin's in the Fields; a sermon which it is not for us to praise, unless, comparing the bishop with himself, we may say, that in vigour and comprehensiveness of conception, in energy, and terseness, and beauty of diction, this discourse appears to us even more admirable than his lordship's former publications. And here we should be glad, if we had room, to notice the late sermons of Mr. Dale and Mr. Burgess-gentlemen, whose names ought hardly to be passed over in silence, when we are speaking of Intermediate Schools." But we must return to the Bishop of London, who "thinks that an effort should be made to establish schools of a better sort; not merely, however, for the children of the working classes, as we commonly understand the expression, but for the class next above them, the little tradesmen and artisans." "I have long," adds his lordship, "been desirous of seeing this effort systematically made, and I now rejoice in the certainty of its being made."

As the bishop states in a note that "this suggestion was made by the Rev. T. V. Short, Rector of St. George's, Bloomsbury, in a valuable tract published in 1835," we would remark, in justice to ourselves, and lest we should be suspected of having pretended to strike out a notion, when we in fact borrowed it from Dr. Short, that our first mention of it in this Review was made, unless we are much mistaken, several months before the publication of his pamphlet, and certainly more than a year before it happened to come under our own eyes. It would be worse, however, than absurd to doubt the originality of Dr. Short's proposition, since the subject, we understand, has been for years upon his mind; as, indeed, upon the minds of others, both clergymen and laymen, in London and elsewhere. We state these thingsand for the same reason we leave our Article uncancelled and substantially unaltered-simply that we may evince the keen interest which we have taken, on many occasions, in our office as Reviewers and in our individual capacity, with respect to the contemplated undertaking, and our honest desire, when the vessel is launched, and the breeze is favourable, to see

our little bark attendant sail, Pursue the triumph, and partake the gale."

ART. VII.-1. Draft of a Fifth Report of the Commissioners appointed to consider the State of the Established Church in England and Wales, with reference to Ecclesiastical Revenues ; also the Correspondence thereon. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 22d December, 1837.

2. Chapter and Collegiate Memorials, addressed to the Church Commissioners in 1836 and 1837. Rivingtons. 1838.

3. A Letter on the Augmentation of a particular Class of Poor Livings, without burthening the Public. By the Earl of Harrowby. Reprinted in 1831.

4. Bill to abridge the holding of Benefices in Plurality, and to make better Provision for the Residence of the Clergy. Printed 23d December, 1837.

5. The Ecclesiastical Commission and the Universities. By Christopher Wordsworth, D.D., Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. 1837.

6. Some Observations on the tendency of a Measure for the future Regulation of Cathedral and Collegiate Bodies, of which Notice has been given in Parliament, by her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Home Department. By J. H. Spry, D.D., Prebendary of Canterbury. 1838.

7. The Principle of the Ecclesiastical Commission examined, in a Letter to the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Chichester. By H. E. Manning, M.A., Rector of Lavington, in the Diocese of Chichester, and late Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. 1838. 8. The Correspondence between the Ecclesiastical Commission and the Bishop of Ely. 1837.

9. A Charge to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of Durham. By C. Thorp, D.D., Archdeacon of Durham. [Printed by desire of the Clergy, not published.] 1836.

10. The Prebendary, or Cathedral Establishment, Ancient and Modern, being the Substance of Letters in the Morning Herald in 1836 and 1837. Part I. Hatchard. 1838.

11. Are Cathedral Institutions useless? a Practical Answer to this Question. Eton. 1838.

12. On the Proceedings of the Ecclesiastical Commission. A Letter to the Bishop of Lincoln. By C. Benson, M.A., Master of the Temple.

19. Reduction of Prebendaries. By F. A. Glover, M.A., Rector of Charlton, in Dovor.

14. Observations on the Illegal and Unconstitutional Character of the Ecclesiastical Commission. By a Layman. Oxford. 1838. 15. "Continuing daily with one accord in the Temple." A Ser

mon on the Daily Service of the Church, particularly in Cathe drals, preached in the Cathedral of Chichester, on Sunday, 19th November, 1837. By the Very Rev. George Chandler, D.C.L., Dean of Chichester and Rector of All Souls, St. Mary-le-bone. London: Parker. 1837.

In order to understand the character and probable issue of the late Ecclesiastical Commission, it is necessary to trace the steps by which it has arrived at its present dimensions. It was ushered in and prepared by another, in many respects of a different character, that appointed June 23, 1831, "to inquire into the Ecclesiastical Revenues of England and Wales," which presented its Report June 16, 1835. For this was a mere Commission of Inquiry; and the Church had too much reason to desire such an inquiry so preposterous were the statements of her wealth, which up to this point were circulated, and, because often repeated, were believed. With regard to the sister branch of the Church, in Ireland, they were acted upon; and even a member of the cabinet confessed, in a late stage of a bill affecting that Church, that they had been legislating under grossly exaggerated notions of her income. The good then to be obtained might make the Church acquiesce in the irregularity of the measure, and in the unlawful powers given even to that Commission. It might indeed have been better, had the ecclesiastical bodies or persons concerned addressed his late majesty to revoke that Commission, professing their readiness at the same time to give the information in some more legal way. For even that Commission was clearly illegal, the Crown having no right to make inquiry, unless it have, upon inquiry, the right to regulate; whereas the Crown has no more right to regulate the property of the Church, than to re-distribute that of the barons, who did indeed once hold of it. However, it seemed likely to lead to no evil results, since, in this Commission, legislation was kept carefully out of sight; the Commissioners themselves probably felt that they did not really possess the powers professedly committed to them, and so did not exercise them; no one, we believe, was "examined upon oath," and no one compelled to "produce any rolls, records, orders, books, papers, or other writings;" and although there were " 178 non-returns among the benefices," and "223 among the impropriations," the Commissioners wisely abstained from pressing a claim, which might have been successfully resisted, and which would have brought the crown into disgrace. The returns then to this Commission were merely voluntary acts of courtesy; they were produced partly by that dislike which Englishmen have to any needless concealment, partly by the dread perhaps that the keeping back of the information would be imputed to the wish of concealing some extraordinary wealth, partly out of respect for the authority, although ille

gally exercised, whence it emanated. The clergy had nothing to conceal, and so they told all, though they had no need. This Report also, we have reason to know, was probably, from the very machinery employed and the haste with which it was compiled, inaccurate, and for any practical purposes inadequate; it may, on the whole, very tolerably represent the whole amount of ecclesiastical property, although it probably overstates that of the deans and chapters; (and indeed, as the Commissioners soon discovered, the average of three years, as applied to them or to the bishops, was altogether absurd.) We know, from a number of instances, that the returns do not represent the real value of many of the benefices; we know, also, as was to be expected, that the clergy, in making the returns, proceeded upon no fixed principle, some making one deduction, some another; so that, as to details, this Report is not at all to be depended upon; not to mention the great alteration, which the Tithe Bill will soon cause.

This Commission, having completed its task, expired. Those who were in any influential post, will recollect the strong doubts which were felt as to the propriety of recognizing its authority; these doubts, however, as was stated, gave way, in most cases, after more or less of hesitation; a seeming straight-forwardness overbalanced wisdom; with some misgiving, especially on the part of those to whom age and experience had given wisdom, the inquiries were answered; and the first Commission having obtained its end, though with some difficulty, the way was prepared for another. The thin edge of the wedge had now been introduced.

In the first Commission, legislation, as was said, was carefully excluded; in the second, it was not yet introduced; but a further step was gained, by issuing a Commission, which should recommend with a view to legislation. Still, through whom that legislation was to take place, was not expressed; the consent of the Church, at least of her bishops, might, it was naturally supposed, be asked for. Then also people had, by the last Commission, become accustomed to the idea of a Commission; they had overcome and acted against their reluctance in the one case, and so, although things were now further advanced, they could the less readily or consistently act against the other. One may now see how much wiser it had been, had the chapters, e. g., declined giving all information except in a legal way, and how much forethought there was in what, to younger men, seemed a timid hesitation on the part of the elder members of the cathedrals. Having gone, however, thus far in the one case, they could scarcely do otherwise than wait and see the result in the other. Then again this second Commission came from their friends, at a critical time; much, although a mistaken importance, was evidently attached to NO. XLVI. APR. 1838.

H H