blishment; which must always be great blessing, however much its usefulness and excellence may be impaired by exclusiveness. But as things now are, in any attempts to attach the people to the Church, we find that the Dissenters actually oppose us; and this, it is to be feared, will always be the case, unless a more comprehensive system be adopted. If this fear be ill-founded; if the Church, without any alteration of its Articles, or Liturgy, or government, can succeed in working its way amidst the manufacturing population; can improve them physically and morally, and make them sensible of the benefits which they receive from it; there is not a man alive to whom this proof of its inherent vitality will be more grateful than to me. Were it even more exclusive than it is, its preservation would still be earnestly to be desired, as one of the greatest national blessings. heartily do I wish to see it reformed, at once for the sake of its safety and of its greater perfection; but, reformed or not, may God, in His mercy, save us from the calamity of seeing it destroyed.

Most

RUGBY SCHOOL.-USE OF THE

CLASSICS.

[This and the following article were contributed by Dr. Arnold to the Quarterly Journal of Education in 1834, 1835, and are here inserted by the kind permission of the publisher.

The account of Rugby School, in the first part of this article, was written in compliance with a plan for a description of the different Public Schools by their several head-masters. In some respects the arrangement of the School, which is here given, underwent considerable modifications.]

RUGBY SCHOOL.-USE OF THE CLASSICS.

THIS School was originally a simple grammar school, designed for the benefit of the town of Rugby and its neighbourhood. Any person who has resided for the space of two years in the town of Rugby, or at any place in the county of Warwick within ten miles of it, or even in the adjacent counties of Leicester and Northampton to the distance of five miles from it, may send his sons to be educated at the school without paying any thing whatever for their instruction. But if a parent lives out of the town of Rugby, his son must then lodge at one of the regular boarding-houses of the school; in which case the expenses of his board are the same as those incurred by a boy not on the foundation.

Boys placed at the school in this manner are called foundationers, and their number is not limited. In addition to these, there are 260 boys, not on the foundation; and this number is not allowed to be exceeded.

The number of masters is ten, consisting of a headmaster and nine assistants. The boys are divided into nine, or practically into ten classes, succeeding each other in the following order, beginning from the lowest first form, second form, third form, lower remove; fourth from, upper remove, lower fifth, fifth, and sixth. It should be observed, to account for the anomalies of this nomenclature, that the name of sixth form has been long as

sociated with the idea of the highest class in all the great public schools of England; and, therefore, when more than six forms are wanted they are designated by other names, in order to secure the magic name of sixth to the highest form in the school. In this the practice of our schools is not without a very famous precedent: for the Roman augurs, we are told, would not allow Tarquinius Priscus to exceed the ancient and sacred number of three, in the centuries of Equites; but there was no objection made to his doubling the number of them in each century, and making in each an upper and a lower division, which were practically as distinct as two centuries. There is no more wisdom in disturbing an old association for no real benefit, than in sparing it when it stands in the way of any substantial advantage.

Into these ten classes the boys are distributed in a three-fold division, according to their proficiency in classical literature, in arithmetic and mathematics, and in French. There is an exception made, however, in favour of the sixth form, which consists in all the three divisions of exactly the same individuals. All the rest of the boys are classed in each of the divisions without any reference to their rank in the other two: and thus it sometimes happens that a boy is in the fifth form in the mathematical division, while he is only in the third or fourth in the classical; or, on the other hand, that he is in a very low form in the French division, while he is in a high one in the classical and mathematical. During the two first lessons on Wednesday, the school is arranged according to its classes in French; and on Saturday, according to its classes in arithmetic and mathematics.

The masters also have different forms in the three different divisions. The masters of the higher classical forms may teach the lower forms in mathematics or French; and the masters of the higher forms in either of those two departments may have the care of the lower forms in the classical arrangement.