and communicates purity and activity and intensity to the social

virtues.

That he was able to accomplish so much, both in his profession and as a public character, can be attributed only to the habit of sedulous and unremitting industry which he formed early in life, and in which he persevered as long as nature allowed. He was extremely temperate: though no one enjoyed more than he did the freedom of unrestrained conversation, and those charms of elegant society in which he occasionally indulged, yet he never made any sacrifice of duty, whether professional or parliamentary, to these delightful recreations. In his manners in public there was great self-possession and dignity, mixed perhaps with some appearance of reserve; but in intimate society there never existed a man, the blandness of whose manners was more engaging, or the effusions of whose mind, in its careless moments, were more delightful for their gaiety, or more captivating from their unstudied elegance. In his wit there was something of that tacit contrast, and covert allusion, of which the archness is not, till the close, in any degree anticipated. It was often ironical; but those who recollect him, either at the bar or in parliament, will remember that his irony was sometimes closed with more direct attacks on imposture or vice; and that his pointed sarcasms, when he did indulge in them, were such as evinced that he did not indulge in them more frequently from any want of power, but because other methods suited better the courtesy and urbanity of his

nature.

His attainments in general literature were considerable; and the knowledge which he incidentally showed of the history and antiquities of the country in the discussion of constitutional questions, bespoke a mind richly and deeply stored, but entirely unostentatious of its treasures. In short, every feature of his mind bore the same impress of sincerity and simplicity; and his life exemplified in an eminent degree, the honest motto of that noble constitutional lawyer and wise statesman, Lord Somers.

A man who, born the youngest son of a tradesman, in an obscure part of Westminster, by his merits alone attained the eminence of representing that wealthy and populous city in parlia ment; a lawyer, who, in a corrupt age, preserved his integrity unsullied, and relinquished the emoluments and rank of a splendid office which he actually enjoyed, as well as the prospect of preferment still more lucrative and dignified, rather than make any compromise of his political principles; a statesman, who, when

* Esse quam videri.

in

in office under the crown, respected and asserted the rights of the people, and exerted the influence of his station to enact statutes of humanity and beneficence, and who even when out of office succeeded in some degree in mitigating the severity of the penal code, and was unwearied in urging further improvements;-such a man, beloved as he was by his friends, admired by his coadjutors, and respected by his adversaries, deserves to be held in everlasting remembrance. When the courtly sycophants and factious demagogues and cunning chicaners of the age shall have been alike forgotten, and all their intrigues and cabals and cobweb sophistries swept into oblivion, with the paltry occasions which excited them, the memory of Romilly will be reverenced, as a man whose spirit breathed in a pure air, and formed to itself higher and nobler aims; and future ages will cherish and bless the name of the upright advocate, the genuine patriot, the friend and the protector of his fellow-creatures.

ART. XIX. On the Education and Relief of the Female Poor, and on Ladies' Benevolent Societies for those Purposes.

H

OWEVER paradoxical, startling, and discouraging to the friends of the poorer classes the position may appear, yet we apprehend it is borne out by long and general experience, that the purest and most zealous benevolence, even when supplied with means commensurate with its wishes and views, only serves to strengthen and extend the evils and misery it endeavours to remove, unless it be under the guidance and control of a sound judgement and comprehensive views. No influence exerted by one class of the community over another, can be of a neutral character: it must either be productive of beneficial or mischievous consequences. The effects that have followed from the Poor Laws of England, afford a decisive and melancholy illustration and proof of the truth of these positions. That similar effects, though confined within a much narrower sphere, must flow from private charity and assistance to the poor, if it be afforded on the same erroneous principle as that which regulates the operation of the Poor Laws, requires no argument to prove. It is not, assuredly our wish or object, in the observations we are about to make, to damp the ardour of private benevolence; but merely, by pointing out the faults into which it is liable to fall, to guide it more steadily and certainly to the great object at which it aims.

In different parts of London and its immediate vicinity, as well as in some parts of the country, there are societies of ladies formed, whose object is to instruct and relieve the females of the poorer classes.

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classes. When we consider that in the early parts of their lives, at least, most of these females go into service, and reflect how very much the comfort and security of our domestic circles, and the first and most important rudiments of the moral dispositions and temper of our children, depend on the character of our female servants;—when we, moreover, look forward to the period, when these females will become wives and mothers, and consequently influence, in an essential degree, the character and happiness of their husbands and children, we shall be disposed to regard their education (taking the word in its most comprehensive signification) as a matter of very serious importance.

How then ought their education to be conducted, so as to ren der them good and faithful servants, industrious and frugal wives, and capable, by their precepts and knowledge, as well as disposed by their example, of bringing up their children in the paths of morality and religion? That they, as well as the male part of the lower orders, ought to be well educated, in so far as a good education consists in forming habits of industry, honesty, and conscientiousness, all must admit: but many, even of those who are liberal and enlightened in their views, contend that if education (in the popular and limited sense of the word) is given to the lower orders, it will render them unfit for, and dissatisfied with, the station in which providence has placed them; and in proof and defence of this melancholy and depressing opinion, they ap peal to what they maintain is the fact; viz. that, since education has been bestowed on the lower orders, servants, and especially female servants, conduct themselves in their places, as if they regarded themselves above them, and qualified for a higher and more important line of life;-that they are not so conscientious in the performance of their duty as they formerly were, when they were not educated; that they are not steady and contented in service; that they have ceased to feel that almost affectionate interest in the welfare of their masters and mistresses; and that they are no longer grateful for any kindnesses shown them. In short, the opponents of the education of the lower orders maintain, that since it took place, the comforts of domestic life are much lessened by the deterioration in the character of the servants: this circumstance they allege proceeds from their education, and, in general, they trace its operation in producing this alleged evil effect, by stating that by such education they are raised above and rendered discontented with their peculiar and proper station and duties. This is a serious charge against the plan of educating the lower orders, and we have put it with as much strength as we could infuse into it, in order that we may not be accused of not meeting

it in the "very front and panoply of its power." We shall now consider whether it is well or ill founded.

It may be remarked, as a preliminary observation, that no mistake is more common, in the physical, political, and moral world, than to regard two circumstances which begin to appear, and continue to exist, at the same time, as mutually cause and effect. There can be little doubt that servants at present do not display that attachment to their masters and mistresses, and their families, for which they were formerly distinguished; that they are less conscientious and zealous in the performance of what they engage, and are sensible they ought, to do; and, in short, that servants are not, in any respect, so good as they were formerly: there can be as little doubt that this change has taken place within the last 30 or 40 years; and that within the same period, education has been pretty generally extended to the lower orders. Having admitted these facts, and admitted also that they are contemporaneous or nearly so, we shall now proceed to inquire, whether other causes, and not education, have not produced this undoubted change in the character and conduct of servants: whether, reasoning from fact and analogy, we can come to the conclusion, that education can produce such a change; and, lastly, whether, in reality, the nature and extent of the change, actually produced by other causes, has not been modified and limited by education; and whether, if these causes had not been counteracted by education, the character and conduct of servants would not have been much worse than it is. In the course of these observations and arguments, we shall have opportunity and occasion of pointing out the imperfections and abuses of the plans which are very generally pursued by the ladies' benevolent societies in the management of the schools for the lower order of females. There are causes, not difficult to trace, nor obscure or limited in their operation, to which an enlightened and liberal view of the question will ascribe the deterioration in the character and conduct of servants, rather than to their education. The natural progress

of society in civilization and wealth, which in this country has been extremely rapid within the last 30 years, will, in some degree, account for the change: it has changed the feelings of the master and mistress of a family towards their servants, as well as of the servants towards them. While society was comparatively rude and uncomplicated, masters and servants bore to one another something like the relation of fathers and children; the latter, ignorant and helpless, looked up to the former as their guides and protectors; but as society advanced, and its ramifications and employments became more complicated, this relationship became weakened, and at last very generally dissolved. That this is a real representation of the fact is evident from the consideration, that in

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those

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those parts of the kingdom where society still retains the comparatively simple and primitive form it universally possessed 30 years ago, and where civilization and wealth have as yet made comparatively little progress, masters and servants are mutually to each other what they were used to be every where formerly. change therefore is not alone in servants; it extends also to masters and mistresses: but while, in the latter, it exhibits itself only in the absence of that almost parental feeling with which servants were formerly regarded and treated by them; because an enlightened view of their own real interest, as well as a sense of duty, induces them to discharge their part of the legal and moral contract into which, as masters, they enter with their servants;— the servants, not having the void, occasioned by the destruction of the affection and attachment they formerly felt towards their masters and mistresses, filled up by an enlightened and practical conviction that their interest and their duty are inseparably con nected, do not in general meet the good conduct of their employers with corresponding good conduct. At the same time, it must be admitted, that the deterioration in the character of servauts is in too many instances occasioned by a similar deterioration in the conduct of masters and mistresses towards them; and it is rather to be lamented than wondered at, that persons ignorant and dependent as servants are, should become suspicious and distrustful, and retaliate, though to their own loss, on all who employ them, that ill conduct which they may have witnessed and suffered from in a few.

But there are other causes, beside those which it appears to us are inseparable from an increase of wealth and a complicated and refined state of society, that have co-operated in rendering servants worse than they were; and these causes, also, are entirely distinct from the education of the lower classes. We shall confine ourselves to the consideration of two of the most powerful and diffused: the Poor Laws; and the extreme fluctuations in the wages of the labouring classes, which have taken place within the last 30 years.

It is unnecessary to insist, at any great length, on the melancholy effects on the character and condition of the poor which have been produced, and are still producing, by the poor laws. These laws, however wise and necessary they may have been when first passed, have, partly from a change in the state of society, and partly from their abuse and application to objects and cases not contemplated by their original framers, done more to degrade and impoverish the lower orders in England, than any combination of circumstances could have done, had it been expressly formed for this purpose. The poor now, instead of considering it as their duty, and their pride, to support themselves and their families by