period of life. A very able writer* has observed, that "drunkenness is the vice of an uncultivated mind:" and in truth, with very few exceptions, this vice, in all its beastly deformity, will be found to be most prevalent among the ignorant and uninformed; among those who have had no means of improving or appreciating their faculties, and who, in respect of mental and moral improvement, can be placed but little above the brute creation.

In all those moral virtues, which are of such inestimable value through life-of industry and skill I say nothing, for it is obvious that instruction and habit are their vital principlebut in moral virtues,-in fidelity, truth, justice, and integrity,-every attainment is casual and accidental,-all improvement, deceitful and uncertain, except that which originates in principle, and whose basis firmly rests on the sure ground of a religious education.

1

The absurd prejudices that have existed against extending the common and general benefits of education to the children of the poor, and the extraordinary supposition, that an uneducated and neglected boy will prove

The Rev. Mr. Townsend in his Dissertation on the Poor Laws.

an honest and useful man, that a youth of ignorance and idleness will produce a mature age of industry and virtue, are now in great measure exploded. Switzerland and Scotland, and the northern counties of England, where the education and occupation of youth are par ticularly attended to, afford very gratifying evidence of the contrary position. The indi viduals of those counties, are not only more industrious and more thriving, but, of all parts of Europe, peculiarly exempt from criminal

habits.*

If the revenues of all our charity schools were applied as advantageously as those of the Blue Coat School, and the other schools at Chester, it is probable that the funds would be sufficient to give to every individual in England, the same advantages of early instruction and good habits, as are enjoyed by our northern neighbours, and by the inhabitants of Switzerland. In order to produce this effect, some exist ing prejudices against removing ancient abuses, and (I am sorry to be obliged to add) some degree of interest or patronage in the continuance of those abuses, must be given up; and the in

See Howard on Prisons, p. 124; and on Lazarettos,

P. 120.

quiry must be fairly and impartially entered into, how the good effects of every charity may be best attained, and most widely extended, without injustice to its original objects. There is hardly any charitable fund in England to which the example of Chester may not in some degree apply; and by the application of which, children may not be enabled to acquire those early habits of life, without which wealth and power (and even liberty itself) are to the pos sessors of but little value;—too frequently the source of ungoverned passions; pernicious at the same time to other members of society, and destructive to the welfare and existence of the community.

No. XVIII.

LADIES COMMITTEE FOR THE FEMALE POOR,

Ar the Meeting of the " Society for bettering the Condition of the Poor," (March 1804), the Committee directed an Address to be sent to those Ladies who were Subscribers to their funds, and to some others, proposing the formation of a LADIES COMMITTEE, FOR PROMOTING THE EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE FEMALE POOR.-The want of instruc. tion, and the means of occupation, are causes which have contributed fatally and extensively to the prevalence of profligacy and misery among the lower classes of females in England, and have called for the union and co-operation of the more elevated and enlightened of the sex, for the correction of so general an evil.

The objects proposed for consideration, were classed under three heads; 1st, the forming of similar Committees in provincial towns, and in the metropolis:-2d, the promoting of the

• Reports No. CXIII.

Ladies Committee for the Female Poor. 241

moral and religious education of the Female Poor; and 3dly, the supplying of them with healthful domestic employment. The plan in cluded the formation of a seminary for educating the unprovided daughters of clergymen, officers, and others, as teachers, and governesses, for private families and female boarding schools.

The establishment of such a seminary, at the same time that it constituted a very desirable and essential part of the general plan, did certainly create a considerable portion of its difficulty. With a view, therefore, to anticipate objection and facilitate arrangement, a suggestion of some hints, or rather an outline on the subject, was circulated with the other papers.

The Plan, as soon as it was arranged, was submitted to HER MAJESTY; who has been graciously pleased to approve it, and to command her name to be inserted as PATRONESS, and those of the PRINCESSES, as VICE PATRONESSES, of the institution. With this powerful advantage, and with the permission of the Ladies who compose the primary Committee, notice of this Institution has been ordered to be circulated, and to be inserted in some of the

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