puffery with which the publication of Tremaine has been attended, and something of which has even found means to intrude itself within the boards of the book. But for this last circumstance, we should have thought silence the proper course; but it, we frankly confess, appears to us to leave a gentleman and a man of honour no alternative. We shall be in no hurry, however, to form our final decision, for we have little doubt the fact will turn out to be, that the work has been transmitted from a foreign country. THE TWIN SISTERS. FAIR as two lilies from one stem which spring, Each limb, each joint, each feature could compare, Some object, 'twas what Anna had in view.- With breast to breast, and cheek on cheek reclined, They seem'd of Heav'n, and, cherub-like, they smiled. Of heath-flowers wild, a wreath their brows to deck, And as maturer seasons o'er them came, The mountain, forest, meadow, lake, and stream, Society did their enjoyments spoil,- But oft, alas! the lily, in the spring, So fared it with Maria; the pure red, Where smiles once sat, now changed to sickly blue; With rapid strides came premature decay! And soon the woodlands will resume their green; The wood-paths through, and trim the bower we love.""Yes, Anna, flowers will bloom, and grove, and plain, All dormant nature spring to life again; Grass clothe the ground, and blossoms crown the tree, Prophetic speech! for now life's fading flame, A thrilling pang of horrible despair Pierced Anna's breast, and marr'd all feeling there; Till her faint limbs no more her weight could stay, All strive to soothe and comfort her, but she I thought I ne'er should meet again with you, -Then from her troubled frame forthwith the spirit flew. R. BROUGHAM ON THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE.* EVER since the days of Fox, our Whig and other friends of the "libe ral system" have been addressing themselves principally and almost exclusively to the lower orders. They have passed by the better classes-the educated people-in scorn, and have called upon the poor and ignorant the uneducated people-to decide on the most intricate constitutional questions, and the most complicated matters of general policy. To discover their reasons, we have only to look at what they have advocated; and to form a proper opinion of their conduct, we have only to place before us what was done by "the people" in the days of Radicalism. The general newspaper and hustings appeals, which were so potent a few years since, have lost their power, and therefore a new system is in course of establishment. This system is far more scientific and elaborate than the old one, and it will produce even greater mischiefs, if it meet with no molestation. Our men of liberality follow a prodigious variety of callings; they are, among other things, political economists; and in this character they have contrived to separate the labourers from their employers, and to place the latter in the power of the former. The old opinion that the servant ought to be dependent upon, and under the control of, the master, is thrown to the dogs, to make way for the new and infallible one, that the master ought to be dependent upon, and under the control of, the servant. The repeal of the Combination Laws was a masterstroke in these sagacious people. It formed the mass of the labourers in the manufacturing districts of the three kingdoms, into connected associations, and rendered them not merely independent, but the masters, of their employers. While this grand first step was taking, our political economists carefully filled the labourers with the conviction that their employers were their tyrants and natural enemies; and of course no sooner were the laws repealed, than the two classes became bitter enemies the servants became the despots of the masters. Having thus liberated the working classes from surveillance and control having thus filled them with scorn of their employers-the next step to be taken was to put them under proper instruction; and therefore Mr Brougham supplies a scheme for the purpose. It would have been exceedingly impolitic to have given to his pamphlet its proper name-to have called it a plan for forming the labouring orders into a disaffected and ungovernable faction-consequently it bears the seductive title-" Practical Observations upon the Education of the People." It is, in respect of its ostensible object, a very sorry performance, and altogether unworthy of the talents of its author. Looked at as a scheme, it is miserably romantic and defective; and regarded as the history of an experiment, it withholds nearly all the information that could render it satisfactory. The philosopher and the statesinan would be ashamed of it from its narrow, paltry, erroneous, and mischievous opinions; and the writer of genius would disown it, from its heavy, faulty, and incorrect diction. It is, however, in spirit and tendency, what every one who is acquainted with the learned gentleman's general conduct, would look for; and it is perhaps well enough calculated for promoting its real object. We are quite sure that we are as friendly to the instruction of the working classes as Mr Brougham; and we strongly suspect that we are much more so. We, however, differ from him on almost every essential point of the subject. We cannot be ignorant that the educating of the working udults of a great nation is a thing without precedent, and on which experience throws no light, save what is abundantly discouraging. We cannot be ignorant that hitherto, whenever the lower orders of any great state hove obtained a smattering of knowledge, they have generally used it to produce national ruin. We cannot be ignorant, • Practical Observations upon the Education of the People, addressed to the Working Classes and their Employers. By H. Brougham, Esq. M.P. F.R.S. London, 1825. when we look at our factions, that the lower orders will be surrounded with pernicious as well as beneficial instructors; and when we look at human nature, we cannot be ignorant that they will generally prefer the former. We cannot be ignorant, that if in our endeavours to educate the working orders we injure their industry and morals, and give them tastes and habits discordant with their situations in life, we do both them and the empire very grievous disservice. These are facts which no "liberality" can impeach, which are above controversy; they convince us, that however desirable the "edu cation of the people" may be, it is a thing which, by mismanagement, might be rendered destructive to the nation; and therefore that it ought to be commenced and proceeded in with the utmost caution and wisdom-that those who take the lead in it ought to be the objects of very great jealousy and unremitting watchfulness to both the government and the country at large. Mr Brougham is so far from being cognizant of these facts, that he builds upon the reverse throughout his pamphlet. He flounders along at a furious rate, and can see danger in nothing, save the intermeddling of the govern ment and the upper classes. The learned gentleman is, notwithstanding, called a statesman. Holding this we say to be incontrovertible, we very naturally ask, Who and what are those who are modestly exalting themselves into the directorsgeneral of the "education of the peo ple?" One is Mr Brougham, an Opposition-leader in the House of Commons; a political writer in the Edinburgh Review; a lawyer; and, without question, the most fanatical and outrageous party-man in the three kingdoms. Another, it seems, is a Mr Place, one of the writers of the Westminster Review. And a third, it appears, is Sir F. Burdett, another Oppo sition-leader in Parliament, and, next to Mr Brougham, the most fanatical and outrageous party-man in these realms. These are assisted by various other members of the Fox and Bentham schools. If these men were merely the active opponents of the ministry, it would positively disqualify them for directing the education of the people; they are not only this, but they are likewise the active enemies of a very large portion of our political and social system. We suspect that not half of Mr Brougham's creed is before the world; but, however, we know sufficient of it for our present purpose. On all great questions he differs from the leading Whigs, by pushing his opinions much farther into Liberalism than they do. In the present session, he has inThinking as we have stated, we in directly held up those to derision who the first place hold it to be incontro- dissent from the opinions of Thomas vertible that all party-leaders-all vio- Paine; and he regularly supports lent party-men-all innovators-all everything that the Liberals call for. teachers of things that tend to revolu- We need not enlarge on the party creed tion-all who assail our constitution of the Westminster Reviewers; and in and general system-should be scru- regard to Burdett, we need only say, pulously prevented from interfering in that he is the father of Radicalism, and any shape with the "education of the the advocate of universal suffrage and people." We make no exceptions; we annual parliaments. These men can apply this to ALL parties. Such men touch no earthly subject without taintmay be very wise and able; they may ing it with party politics; they can say contend for things that are very neces- and do nothing without attempting to sary; but still they ought, on no ac- make proselytes; their whole history count, to become the schoolmasters of proves that they would not bestow a the people. They would think of no- thought on the education of the people, thing but making proselytes; to this if they did not expect it to enable them they would make all tuition subser- to fill the people with their party opivient; and instead of educating the nions. people, they would fill them with party delusion and rancour, and combine them with political faction. The opinions and schemes of these persons are things to be judged of by the educated, but not to be taught to the uneducated, who cannot possibly decide whether they be right or wrong. We of course maintain, that if such men as Messieurs Brougham, Burdett, Place, and Co. be suffered to direct the education of the people, they will pervert it into the misleading and deluding of the people-into a national curse; we maintain that such men ought to be driven by the voice of the country from intermeddling with the education of the people, or that such education ought, on no account, to be commenced; we maintain, that to be successful and beneficial, this educacation must be exclusively in the hands of men who stand aloof from partywho have no party interests-and who are without temptation-to pervert it into an instrument of evil. We will now open the pamphlet "I begin by assuming, that there is no class of the community so entirely occupied with labour, as not to have an hour or two every other day, at least, to bestow upon the pleasure and improvement to be derived from reading or so poor as not to have the means of contributing something towards purchasing this gratification." "It is, no doubt, manifest that the people themselves must be the great agents in accomplishing the work of their own instruction. Unless they deeply feel the usefulness of knowledge, and resolve to make some sacrifices for the acquisition of it, there can be no reasonable prospect of this grand object being attained."-" But, although the people must be the source and the instruments of their own improvement, they may be essentially aided in their efforts to instruct themselves."" Their difficulties may all be classed under one or other of two heads-want of money, and want of time." Thus speaks Mr Brougham, and this forms his ground-work. He does not inquire whether the people have generally a natural relish of reading -or whether, if they have not, it be possible to endow them with such a relish; whether they, in general, possess sufficient capacity to understand and turn to profit what they may read-or whether the bulk of them are capable of being educated by such means as may exist, or be created for the purpose. On these matters he is silent. This is, we think, a radical defect in his publication; in our poor judgment, a statesman and philosopher would never have dreamed of publishing a line on the Education of the People, without giving these things a very ample discussion, in order to obtain a solid foundation for his scheme. Whatever may be Mr Brougham's reputation, he cannot satisfy us on a subject like this with assumptions and assertions. When the people are to be" the great agents in accomplishing the work of their own instruction," and when they are to accomplish this principally by voluntary reading, it must be proved to us that they will read and understand, before we can believe that they can be reasonably well educated. It is unquestionable, that the natural powers of the poor are quite equal to those of the rich; and it is alike unquestionable, that they are not more than equal. The same variety in natural taste and capacity is to be found among the working classes which is to be met with among the upper ones. Now, how stands the question with men, in general, touching the love of reading? Perhaps one in fifty shows a decided passion for books from his childhood-perhaps one in twenty is led to love general reading by natural bias and habit conjoined-perhaps one in ten becomes a plodding, mechanical, general reader, for the sake of improvement, although he has scarcely any natural taste for reading-perhaps one in three finds pleasure in reading books of amusement, but cannot look into those of a different kind without falling asleep-and perhaps three-fifths of the people at large have no relish of reading, and cannot acquire any, so far, at least, as regards works of general instruction. A strong thirst for the acquisition of general knowledge can only spring from such a share of natural ability as very few men are endowed with, and without this thirst, men will never read what is necessary for education, when their reading is altogether a matter of choice. There must be the ability to understand, or there will not be the will to read; and the mass of books, putting aside those of mere amusement, are above the understanding of the mass of mankind. A man, a poor as well as a rich one, must read a great deal before he can comprehend the style and allusions, and relish the thoughts, of our best writers. In addition to this, he must have a very strong memory, great powers of perception and judgment, and very accurate taste, or his reading will render him but little service. Many men of great genius have been unable to force themselves into the acquisition of general, and more especially of scientific, knowledge. The working classes are compelled to devote at least |