The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-12-29 00:00:00

MR. BOOXE'ii LECTURES.

Mr. Boone rare yeetertlay, at the Fe: notions' 'raven,
to a numerate and respectable auditory, nnother lecture
upon the introvement of the mind, and the manner by
which this improvement was to heti:taint:a. Intl, vet, ping
his ideas upon this importent saljeet, the lecturer sail
would consider eenteal education as ditithel into three
classes; intellectual, moral, and 'divide:ll ;and the proper
inouiry then would be. how much had been dime, nr bft
to be done, by the present system of education? When
we considered the small MlVallerS that bait tes yet Leen
matte, our progress may be compared to an intellectual
geo7raphy, in which it would he absurd for an heti...hitt:a
who had seen a few emintrien, to arse,' lie roes ac unit. it
with all. It would be madness to do y that within
the last quarter of a century, imptoventente had lee
made amon3st the lower etasses, of which the most clear-
sighted reason, or the most prophetic imarination, could not
see the result. It might for the better, it ittiOnlee for the
worse, that the meet. miss and artisans saved cot of their
weekly earnings, for e.•:, pnroese of improvise: tliur mind-.
Their recreations 1101.1 Witter wee: thew of philosophers
who were emissions of the proud privileges conferred by
Providence on math Whi.n situ were the e,ertintis of
men wel;..,b- 41 down by led. it was p, rOlnrly incumbent
upon the I left to male similar elll.l is ; title :we:, the re-
lative situations of both weenies rend,' be 'test, and they
would have to change places in society. In saying this,
his object was to stitottlste, rot to alarm. It W..% 0!:•-
jeCtell to the artem of c,lnce'itet di:rased ameoget tbe
lower chenee, that they would its Cleseepienee ;weenie uelit
for their humble situations. This he denied : tiM universal
diffusion of information would prevent some front being
arrogant, and others from b.ti:e;• fligeont mted. There May
he, he admitted, conviileioes 1r; fore R &mg ettr was at-
tained. There was a point of hal:'-knoi.ledge which they
slibuld reach in their progress, the ulayii called the limbo
of vanity. This state may be prednetire of commotion ;
and the object would he, by meow; of e partieukir teture-
tion, to get beyond it asynieklyas poesible. fleeing fly
noticed what was done in the way of instruction for the
poor, he would inquire what was done for the rich and
middle orders. Th,• time those eas,, derntea to education
was front the age of e to let, if we reelein the interval be-
tween going to school and taking t-nt a tL t;ree at either oldie
linivereities. This was 14 years, the :mc-oiAlt of littetan life
when protractlat to its loegt st span ; nod yet, in this time,
how little had been done. I tid net the person thus educated
find himself at fault at every utep ? Could he go into a
manufactory without feeling himself in a tier world?
Could he comprehend half the articles which nppeareil in
our best periodical publicatilms ? Changes wire lately
made at the Universities, lint the new Prort.sorships were
not attended to, and a proficieoey in, or a neglect of, thole•
studies for which they were instituted, was not aectempa.
nicd either with aerilentir ertirme fir reward. The 1..1,
tuner pointed out veritme th a cts in the syst.in of education
pursued at the Universities, and couelelle,l by maintainitee,
the superiority of his own system, which he promised to
explain at length in his Lecture on Tie YR:3:- next.