The Sun.
London, England, 1868-07-31 00:00:00

ROYAL ARCIIAOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.

'The archaeologists made their first great excursion on
Thursday. Leaving the Lancaster Castle station at an early
hour, the party travelled by the Furness Railway to
Barrow, where the new docks inaugurated by Mr.
Gladstome last autumn were inspected, and a
steamer was in readiness to convey them to Piel to inspect
the castle. Thence they returned to Barrow by steamer,
and by train to Furness Abbey, where about the time of
the despatch of this report Mr. Sharpe, the eminent
archaeologist, was to deliver a lecture. The party were after-
wards entertained by the Mayor of Barrow, and returned
to Lancaster by train in the evening. Furness Abbey has
been so frequently visited and described that further
details of the visit are unnecessary. There was, however,
a meeting of the architectural section on Thursday
night at the Lancaster Music-hall, at which an interesting
discussion arose between the chairman, Mr. Parker, and
Mr. Sharpe. The Rev. J. L. Petit read an account of the
church of Cartmel Priory. lie described in detail the
different features of this priory church, which presented a
very remarkable mixture of the Norman and early English
styles of architecture. Arches situate opposite to each other
were found to be the one round and the other pointed,
and these must have been built at the same period.
He considered the whole church a good, but perplexing,
example of Gothic architecture. The chairman (Mr.
Parkes), in moving a vote of thanks to Mr. Petit, parti-
cularly desired to call attention to the fact that they
must not consider the form of the arch in the building as
a guide to its age ; that form was commonly a matter of
convenience. People were apt to think that if they
found a round-headed arch it must be ono of the 12th
century, and that if it was pointed it must have been of
the 13th century. Now, he could shew them round-headed
doorways of all periods where it was convenient to make
them. The form of the arch was, in fact, no guide to the
date ; they must look to the mouldings and tracery. Mr.
Sharpe having spoken of the Rev. Mr. Petit's great abili-
ties as a watercolour draughtsman, proceeded to take
exception to the chairman's views as to the round and pointed
arches. It was true they might find exception to his rule,
but unquestionably for the first 1,000 years of the Christian
era the round arch was used, and for the last 1,000 years
the pointed arch was used. That was the guide to go by ;
but there was a period intervening when the round
arch had to give way to the pointed, and this transitional
period was interesting as the grave of the early form—
the Romanesque—and the cradle of the later—the Gothic.
In the first twenty-two years of the transitional period
(which lasted only about forty-five years) the arches of
construction were pointed, and the arches of decoration
were circular. At the end of this transitional period there
was some confusion, and an apparent desire to return to
the old style.

THE BISHOP OF LONDON ON MIDDLE
CLASS EDUCATION.

The Bishop of London on Thursday addressed a meeting
held at Brentford, to consider the position of the middle-
class school there. Having distributed the prizes to the
boys of the school, his lordship said : Mr. Walpole had
remarked, as indeed the report had brought before them,
that the particular class for whose benefit these schools
had been established had, in the educational arrange-
ments of the country, been exposed to considerable dis-
advantage. All of them knew how much had been
done in the course of the last thirty years in the matter
of education of the poor. It had been naturally answered,
when the Parliament or Government had been called upon
to assist, equally with others, in the education of the middle
classes, that the middle classes were quite capable of taking
care of themselves, while it was absolutely necessary to
provide the poorer classes the means of education. It was
further stated that with regard to the middle classes,
seeing that, as a whole, they were a wealthy body, they
were not only able to provide for their own children but
were very anxious to do so whenever proper opportunities
offered. He (the bishop ventured to think there had been
a very considerable fallacy in that statement. If that were
true of the middle classes it must be to a still greater extent
true of the higher classes, and in justification of that view he
would invite any of those present to visit either of the ancient
universities of Oxford or Cambridge, and to see for them-
selves whether the education of the higher classes was
conducted entirely at their own expense. On the contrary,
it was the old foundations, the glorious buildings, the
salaries provided for professors and fellows through the old
foundations that attracted men of all classes there.
They had been committing a great mistake, that
whereas from the public funds the country had gladly
contributed towards the education of the poor, large
means being meanwhile provided through the old
foundations for the education of the higher classes,
the middle classes had been left to do the whole work for
themselves. He did not think that was entirely fair, and
he believed the whole error had arisen from some misap-
prehension of the facts of the case. But the matter was
even worse than that. He did not wish to stir up the
middle class to any grievance, but he felt himself bound to
express his opinion that the middle classes had been ill-
used in this matter of education, for in old times these
foundations of Oxford and Cambridge embraced a far
larger number of the middle classes than they did at the
present time. It was perfectly clear that the founders of
these institutions intended them mainly for the benefit of
the middle classes, and in the old times the middle classes
availed themselves of the advantages which the univer-
sities offered far more than they did at present. It was
not his wish to be understood to say that the middle classes
did not avail themselves of the advantages which the
universities offered now. On the contrary, he knew that
they availed themselves of those privileges very
largely. No doubt it was intended, when the universities
were founded, that they should exercise such an influence
more extensively than they did at present ; and the
reason why that influence was not to its full extent exer-
cised now was not, he thought, owing to any dereliction
of duty on the part of the universities so much as in the
change which had been brought about by the extension of
commerce. For instance, a man did not want to read
Greek plays to make his fortune in the City ; and many a
father thought that it would be a waste of time for his son
to go to the University to learn mathematics and classics
when he might be better employed in a City office.
This was one of those changes which took place
imperceptibly in society, for which no one was to blame,
but in which the result, notwithstanding, was the same.
In another matter the middle classes had fared even
worse. A great number of grammar schools had been in
former times established throughout the country, and there
could be no doubt that the persons who founded them in-
tended them for the benefit of the middle classes. He sin-
cerely trusted that the commission to which Mr. Walpole
had alluded would have the effect of restoring the ancient
grammar schools to their original uses, and thus make them
a benefit to the country. (Cheers). Their ancestors founded
those schools, and, in what they considered their wisdom,
made a provision for all time to come. They provided
against all contingencies for the future, and laid down a
system of instruction which, as time went on, was found
not to be suitable for the middle classes of the country.
Men in that class of life had therefore not availed them-
selves of the advantages which had been provided for
their children, the consequence being that the endowed
grammar schools of the country, which were intended for
the benefit of the middle classes, had become training
institutions for young men of the higher classes, who were
going up to the universities.

GOVERNMENT APPOINTMENTS.-1110 Post asserts,
without fear of contradiction, that the original statement
of The Owl, that Sir James Fergusson is to be the new
Governor of South Australia, was perfectly correct. It
also confirms the paragraph which appeared in Thursday's
Times relative to Mr. Ducane's appointment to Tasmania
----a paragraph which would also have been contradicted
had it appeared a few days ago. Electioneering difficul-
ties originate these official denials of newspaper truths.
In both selections the Dul:e of Buckingham has acted
most wisely. •

THE NEW KNAPSACX.—WO were very glad to be
assured by Sir John Pakington that there was no desire on
the part of either the War Office or Horse Guards authori-
ties to prevent the introduction of the newest and best
kind of pack into the army. The plan recommended by
the committee is, we believe, all that could reasonably be
expected ; and it is pretty well known that it has been
most favourably reported upon by those regiments in which
it has been tried. From all we can learn, however,
there appears to be a difficulty in adjusting it to the High-
land regiments, and Colonel Carter's knapsack is a
favourite with one of those corps, the 92nd. Nothing
could, be more frank than the way in which Sir John
Pakington expressed himself on the subject. By all
means let trials be made of Colonel Carter's knapsack, or
any other, as well as that recommended by the committee,
with a view to the adoption of that which proves to be the ,
L'elk—Z4 Lai --"-