The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-08 00:00:00

declared (the lattei• to the ft
September, with 100 sovs ad
stake, and the winner to pay
winner of any handicap, val
are declared to carry 51b, of
200 sovs, 81bs extra. One
Age st lb
Gladiolus
Dilkoosh 5 8 2
Volatile
Flash in the Pan
Prince of Denmark 5 7 8
Petra
The Rap 3 7 6
Brown Holland 4 7 4
Sparrow Hawk 3 7 4
Syringe
Viatka 3 7 0
Hegira
Aristodemus 4 7 0
Donner and Blitz 3 0 13
Weights declared on Till

and) on or before the 11th of
lded. The second to save his
r 20 sous towards expenses. A
Inc 50 sous, after the weights
two, or of a handicap value
mile and a half.

Age st lb
Springwell 3 6 13
Upperhani
The Prophet 3 6 12
Edmund Kean 3 6 8
Golden Pippin 3 6 8
Walkington
Malpas
Greta
Secret Treasure 4 6 6
Millionaire 3 0 4
Professor Dick.... 3 6 2
Cambondo 3 6 0
Prologue

,sday, Sept. 4, at 9 a.m.

SIR I. COLERIDGE ON PUBLIC

SCHOOLS.

The Right Hon. Sir J. Coleridge delivered a
lecture at Tiverton, on Tuesday, on " Public
Schools." Mr. J. H. Amory presided.
The LECTURER said that education for many
years had much engaged his mind. He had felt the
deepest anxiety for the spread and improvement of
it among all classes. The wants of the country and
the circumstances of the Limes, he believed, made
the call for its extension anTimprovement more ur-
gr

sent. He had said before, and he repeated it now,
because he was convinced of the truth of it, that the
irresistible tendency of the times was not so much
to increase education as to bring into activity the
political power of what were called the lower classes
of the country. This was so marked a tendency, it
was so regular in its advance, so vigorous in its
springs of action, that it could not be overlooked.
It therefore became their duty to strive to make the
classes in question fit to exercise the functions cast
upon them. Again, in order for the other classes to
preserve their places in society, they must be dili-
gent in their own education. It would. not do to rest
upon tradition or upon pi ivilege, for if they still de-
sired to lead they must make themselves fit to be
leaders. They must strike out with the most skilful
swimmers in the race. While all around the under-
wood of the forest were making shoots, their own
growth must not be neglected, lest they were over-
grown. (Hear, hear.) Let them feel no dismay, for
the stream which might overwhelm if they at-
tempted to stop it would become a source of abun-
dant blessing if they directed its course aright;
but the ability to do so could only come by diligent
self-culture. The greater public schools of the coun-
ty were more especially the subject of his lecture,
but as he had abandoned the idea of including the
Universities, so he should confine his remarks and
illustrations principally to Eton—not merely be-
cause he knew more about it than any other, but
partly because he conceived, from its size and com-
position, it was at once the most important and
complete of its class. He avowed his filial fondness
for Eton. He looked back to the days spent be-
neath her shade with gratitude, which increased
with years, and which would endure to the close of
life. He was not blind to her faults, of which he
should speak with freedom and impartiality. ith
regard to Winchester, Harrow, Rugby, and others,
their merits were well and widely known, and they
had reason to be proud of their distinction. Trac-
ing the origin of Eton to Henry IV., and giving
an elaborate sketch of the history and character of
the school, the right hon. gentleman said that Eton
and her fellow-institutions had ever fulfilled, and
were still fulfilling, their glorious mission ; adapt-
ing themselves in form to the changing manners of
the times, but always preserving their identity and
spirit. (Cheers.) Every educational institution
had its idea—that which, so long as it was con-
sistently carried out, influenced all its details.
The idea of Eton was the union of liberty of action
and independence of thought in the boy with that
maintenance of discipline and subordination with-
out which no school could exist, much less the
scholars maintain progress in learning. Many of
the schools seemed to have their idea founded upon
the problem, how much of restraint and discipline
I was consistent with the maintenance of the vigour
of the intellect and the warmth of the heart, Boys
were trained to walk regularly rather than to fly
high or far. Safety for all was sought rather than
excellence for many. These principles, however,
admitted of qualification. Each school, perhaps
had its merits, and England had room for all. The
judicious parent would select a school according to
his son's peculiar disposition, intellect, and circum-
stances, for

" The child is father of the man."
There was, it must be admitted, for many children,
danger in the Eton system. Even with men,
liberty often trembled on the edge of license, and
it required great firmness, discretion, and skill so
to govern a school on this principle as to maintain
constant regularity, obedience, and willing appli-
cation of the mind. The tendency of the Eton
system was to make a boy generous and firm-
minded, to teach him to exercise his common sense
and feel his responsibility, and to make him act
under the influence of generous shame and emula-
tion,—in short, to make him a manly boy, trust-
ing because he was trusted. (Cheers.) This was a
favourable picture of the tendency of the system.
Many might fail to be influenced by it, but these
were its natural results. The traditions of an an-
cient school had great influence upon the working
out of its ideas ; and the Eton traditions were fa-
vourable to these results. Etan boys loved their
school while there, and would leave happy homes
to return to it with none of the usual schoolboys'
regret. They were often idle, noisy, and not proof
against temptation—they might desire, but could
not easy make their boys faultless ; but there were
many faults from which an Etonian was free, in
part, at least, because he was an Etonian. After be-
stowing general and high praise on the system of
teaching adopted at Eton the lecturer said, it had
been commonly remarked that Eton boys did not
bring to the University and to the competitive ex-
amination that sound knowledge of the mathematics
which Eton professed to teach, and the suspicion
got about that there was a want of reality in ma-
thematical teaching. It was, however, said that
within a few years a great apparent change had
been made, but without corresponding results, as
tested in the Universities and elsewhere. This was
much to be lamented, if true, for if there was one
principle more sacred in schools than another it was
that nothing should be professed more than was
performed, and that what was taught should be
taught well. Was the other department of teach-
ing sacrificed to this P He believed not, and yet the
scholarship of the pupils appeared to him to be be-
low what it had been, and the composition less ac-
curate. Perhaps he spoke with the prejudice of old
age, and he should not trust his own opinion, but he
spoke the opinion of those who examined the boys
for the Newcastle scholarship. He did not say that
the best boys were inferior in the knowledge of
metres, but they did not appear to grasp the ideas of
the great writers as good Eton scholars used to do,
and in composition they showed less of the manliness
and simplicity of the great classical masters, and too
much of Italian conceit and falee brilliance. Scholars
could distinguish what he spoke of ; Lucretius
would not have been ashamed of Dr. Keates' poem
on the " Immortality of the Soul," and Virgil
would have admired the verses of the Bishop of
Lichfield. Some might smile, perhaps, and think
he attached too much importance to these things,
but they indicated a less perfect command of the
language. 113 did not think this was the result of
too much attention devoted to other studies. The
boys used to be incited to exertion by the honours
they might gain, and the honours for competition
were sent up for " good" and for' play" in the sixth
form. The head-master read them aloud to the
assembled class in the former instance, and the send-
ing up of a good exercise was the condition upon
which the half-holyday depended. By modern
practice, however, he thought these honours had
been made much too cheap—too much the reward
of good behaviour rather than of good composition ;
and the boys were content to reach the standard.
He thought, too, that the number of prizes and exa-
minations was excessiv, and tended to distract boys
from regular application. These prizes, however,
were useful as testing results, and were most satis-
factory when they were preceded by no specious
training of the lads. With reference to the sports,
he had •watched the cricketing, boating, and drilling
of the boys with increasing interest as some indica-
tion of the general well being of the school. (Cheers.)
It was a bad time for the study of the school when
the sports languished. There was, he was glad to say,
marked improvements in the religious training of the
school, in the knowledge of the Scriptures and eccle-
siastical history, which was in some degree owing to
the Newcastle scholarship, the influence of which
had extended throughout the school, even to those
who might never be in a condition to compete for
the prize. On the subject of parental influence, the•
right hon. gentleman said that some parents ex-
pected everything good and great from their boys
through the instrumentality of public schools, for -
getting how many other agencies operated upon them
and doing nothing themselves to aid in the production