Though multiplied by myriads, and arrayed Nought! But the effluence of Thy light divine, Pervading worlds, hath reach'd my bosom too; Yes! in my spirit doth Thy spirit shine As shines the sun-beam in a drop of dew. I am, O God! and surely Thou must be! 6 Thou art! directing, guiding all, Thou art! Close to the realms where angels have their birth, • The chain of being is complete in me; I can command the lightning, and am dust! Creator, yes! Thy wisdom and Thy word O thoughts ineffable! O visions blest! Though worthless our conceptions all of Thee, Yet shall thy shadowed image fill our breast, And waft its homage to thy Deity. God! thus alone my lowly thoughts can soar; A language in which such a poem as this is to be found, must admit of being made the vehicle of all that is noble in poetry; and, little as we have hitherto heard of it, there must be such a thing as Russian literature. It was Mr. Bowring's original design, (and we are glad that he has not entirely laid it aside,) to write a general history of that infant literature;'-' to trace the progress of letters in a country which has emerged ' as it were instantaneously, from a night of barbarism, to occupy a situation in the world of intellect not contemptible, ⚫ even when compared with that of southern nations, but sin'gularly striking as contrasted with the almost universal ignorance which pervaded the immense empire of the Tzars be'fore Peter the Great gave it the first impulse towards civili'zation.' These translations are, certainly, well adapted to prepare the way for such a work, by exciting an interest in the subject, while the taste and ability displayed in the volume, shew that it could not be consigned to a person better qualified for the undertaking. The following elegant stanzas, prefixed to the Specimens, would sufficiently justify our opinion, by shewing that their Author is not a mere translator. I bore ye from the regions of the North, 'I cull'd your garlands 'neath the Polar star, 'I may not link your lowlier names with theirs To our Parnassus one delightful thing, Would gild my hopes, and answer all my prayers.' The biographical notices at the end of the volume, are furnished by the Author's illustrious friend, Von Adelung; they will be read with much interest. Art. XII. 1. A Defence of the British and Foreign School Society against the Remarks in the Sixty Seventh Number of the Edinburgh Review. 8vo. pp. 48. Price Is. London. 1821. 2. Fifteenth Report of the British and Foreign School Society. 8vo. pp. 172. Price 2s. London. 1820. IN We N adverting, in a preceding article, to the laboured and insidious apology of the Edinburgh Reviewer for Mr. Brougham's Education Bill, we confined ourselves to those remarks and statements which bear upon the general question, not feeling ourselves either called upon or prepared to examine into the truth of every allegation affecting existing institutions. simply stated, in reference to the chief object of the Reviewer's sarcasms, the British and Foreign school Society, that we had not heard that its Committee were at all disposed to break up their institutions, or to accept of the facilities held out by the Bill for converting them into Parish Schools. And in this remark, the pamphlets before us, which had not then fallen under our notice, prove that we were right. There was no part, however, of that article which we felt more at a loss to account for, than the contemptuous insinuations and direct charges which are wantonly dealt out against that Society;-so completely at variance with the language and tone uniformly held by the same Journal with regard to its proceedings up to that Number. The Author of the Defence" states, we know not how truly, that this sudden change of tone is entirely owing to some symptons of opposition manifested by the friends of the Society towards the Bill for superseding their further labours; for which, it is very clear, they ought rather to feel theniselves under obligations to its Author. The charges instituted by the Reviewer are thus stated: "The "Leaders" (as they are called) of the Society are accused, 1st. Of objecting to Government taking this business into its own hand, lest it should thereby acquire too much influence. 2nd. It is more than insinuated that they prefer the glory of teaching, to the diffusion of instruction. 3dly. That they are disposed to claim credit for more than is due to them. 4thly. It is insinuated that their labours, except as far as regards the metropolis, are become useless, and their pretensions to any me-rit for what is doing abroad, ridiculous.' With regard to the first of these charges, the Author of the "Defence" remarks, that it is incorrect to say that' they object to this measure lest it should increase the influence ' of Government, when' they only object to its being made a measure of the Hierarchy.' But does Mr. Brougham, then, conceive that Government influence requires to be extended? To the second, a reply is given in the following terms: * The public may rest assured, that some of those who in the arduous struggle have borne the burden and heat of the day; who in the earlier stages of the business, before the merit of the plan was sufficiently known to the public, were often near to fainting under the weight of their burdens; and the peculiar nature of whose difficulties at one period, was partly known to some of those who seem now disposed to sweep them off the scene, to make room for a new plan; these men, if they saw the darling object of their hearts likely to be accomplished by other and better means, would be most thankful to be relieved from their long protracted exertions: or, if the proposed measure did not compromise the great principle of complete religious toleration, they would most heartily join in promoting it, with all the zeal and all the energy which they had heretofore shewn under less favourable circumstances." All that they desire is, that the Church schools should be filled with Church children;-we wish to see them,' says the Writer, overflowing every where; and let the British and Foreign 'schools receive all the rest.' The third and fourth charges are met by details for which we must refer to the "Defence" and the "Report" themselves. A rather curious mode of reasoning is employed by the Reviewer to prove, that the Society ought not to take credit to itself for having become the parent' of foreign associations, unless it supports them by its funds. Upon the same principle, all the foreign Bible societies that rest entirely on native support, are not to be at all considered as the result of the exertions of the Society in this country from which they emanated. And really it is too much to say, as the Reviewer does, that, thanks to their zeal and skill, they have, by propagating the method of tuition, done all that is necessary with regard as well to foreign countries as to their own, except the metropolis; and therefore, thanks having been voted to their zeal and skill, they may dissolve themselves as a Committee as soon as they please, for their attendance can answer no further purpose. That the Society is in want of pecuniary means to throw more power into the existing machinery, is confessed; and on this circumstance an appeal is founded to the friends of Education and Religious Liberty, within whose power it lies to contribute amply sufficient for the regnlar general disbursements of the Society. The greatest impediment, however, to the establishment of schools, is, the want of suitable school-rooms; and in the building of these, the assistance of Government would be most thankfully received. For this, there would seem to be a precedent in a Parliamentary grant for a similar object in the case of Ireland, where no exclusive system would, obviously, be productive of any advantage. This was plainly seen by the Commissioners of the Board of Education in Ireland, who, in their fourteenth Report, assert, "that no plan for the education of the lower classes in Ireland, however "wisely and unexceptionably contrived in other respects, can be "carried into effectual execution in this country, unless it be explicitly "avowed and clearly understood, as its leading principle, that no "attempt shall be made to influence or disturb the peculiar religious "tenets of any description of Christians."-These principles, in this instance, were happily recognized by the Government, and in the session of 1814-1815, near 7000l. was granted by Parliament to build model schools and this pecuniary assistance has been continued, to promote the general objects of the institution, and to provide suitable reading for the poor. To promote this latter object, there is a separate Committee, who have printed, and circulated at a low price, a series of Cheap books, of an instructive and interesting kind; not strictly of a religious tendency, but calculated to inform and improve the youthful mind.' p. 9, 10. The objections urged by the Edinburgh Reviewer to entrusting either the National or the British and Foreign School Society with a certain sum for such a purpose, are deserving only of contempt. The dispensers of the regium donum are private and irresponsible individuals;' nor is that the only instance of grants made, not, certainly, for the encouragement of sectaries,' but, in the spirit of an enlightened policy, for the promotion of the general interests of the community. We know not how the committee of either society, however, can be considered as altogether composed of private or irresponsible persons. Committees are a trust, directly responsible to the general body of the subscribers composing the society; and they are responsible, in a way in which neither the master, nor the clerical patron, nor the more dignified visiter of Mr. Brougham's Parish schools would be, to public opinion. In the case of a grant from Parliament of the nature of a trust, a direct responsibility would be created, as respected that grant, to Government itself. We strongly recommend the interesting contents of the Report to the perusal of such of our readers as may not be aware the extensive operations of the Society. |