What difference is there between a Sunday school and a day school?-Sunday schools instruct those poor children whose time is fully employed in labour during the week days, and to them this is the only opportunity of gaining instruction; the children also learn their lessons during the week, to repeat to their teachers on Sunday; and the teachers visit their children at their own habitations, and procure the co-operation of their parents, and watch over their conduct as much as they can.

What in your opinion could be done to extend the benefit of education throughout the metropolis?—I conceive it would be desirable to investigate the situation of the poor.

What is the advantage of gratuitous teachers over paid teachers in Sunday schools?-It is the great excellence of the Sunday school system, that it employs gratuitous teachers, who are incalculably preferable to paid teachers, because they perform their duty better; many of them are persons in respectable situations of life, and the children perceive the disinterested attention of their teachers, and therefore feel a greater regard for them, and pay more attention to their instructions. If the 4000 teachers in the metropolis were paid at the rate of 2s. each Sunday, it would cost upwards of 20,000l. per annum.

Do you imagine that the generality of poor children in the various parishes of London are educated in the parochial schools?—No, comparatively very few.

Do you know of any plan which could be adopted to increase that number in the day schools?—I think it would be desirable for the inhabitants of the several parishes where they are formed, to investigate the state of the schools, and to superintend them as much as lies in their power.

What do you calculate the expense, per annum, of teaching a child in a Sunday school?-Exclusive of the expense of rent (of which it is impossible to form a general calculation) sixpence per head is as much as it costs.

Does that include books?-Books, fire, candles, and all other expenses, except rent.

Are there candles used in a Sunday school?-Yes.

Do they teach them in an evening?-Many of them, where the children attend public worship in the afternoon.

If children were not clothed in parochial schools, but that expense saved, might not a much greater number of children be educated than are now, in the respective parishes of London?-Certainly, the expense of clothing one child would educate several; a great many more might have instruction; I suppose nearly the whole uneducated poor of the metropolis.

Do yo think it is better to give education to a great number, than instruction and clothing only a few?-Certainly, much better.

Are there not many poor children in want of clothes to appear decent in schools?-There are some few; but they are chiefly of the lowest description of poor; I think most of the parents are in general very well able to clothe their children.

Would not occasional clothing, by way of reward, have a better effect than regular clothing at certain periods?—I conceive so, because it would be unexpected and conditional.

Might not a smaller number in parochial schools be regu larly clothed, and children taken, either in rotation or according to their behaviour, into that number?-Certainly, I think it would be preferable to giving clothes indiscrimin ately to the good and the bad.

Have occasional rewards a good effect in stimulating chil dren to exertion?-A very good effect.

Have you ever witnessed any of those effects, in the schools to which you belong?—Yes; I have known of chil dren excited to uncommon exertion and assiduity.

Do not the poor frequently claim regular allowances as a right, rather than receive them as a boon? Very frequently

So.

Are they not more grateful for occasional gifts than regu lar bounty?-Certainly.

Have you ever observed that children in Sunday schools improved in their dress and appearance, within a short time after their admission? Yes, exceedingly so; their habits of decency and order vastly improve; they become clean in their persons and respectful in their behaviour, and, from being dirty, ill-behaved children, become decent and creditable.

What is the cause of this?-When they see other children better clothed than themselves, they apply to their parents for clothes, and generally succeed and get better clothes.

Do you imagine this induces parents to be more industrious and frugal?-Certainly; they are very desirous for the creditable appearance of their children, and they often deny themselves many gratifications to procure clothing for them.

If this occurs with the parents of Sunday school children, might not the parents of children in day schools be induced to adopt the same frugality and industry and care of their children? I can see no difference, except that the parents of Sunday school children are generally more necessitous than those of charity school children, because they want their labour in the week.

Is it the practice in charity schools, where they do not give regular clothing, for benevolent individuals frequently to make presents of clothing to the children? Yes, it is very frequently the case when any children are observed by benevolent persons to be in a very destitute situation, to give clothing to the most ragged, which excites their gratitude to their superiors.

Is it not desirable to excite a more general disposition to instruct the children of the poor throughout the parishes in the metropolis?- Certainly; I conceive all parish schools would be more useful, if the housekeepers and inhabitants properly looked after them, and felt an interest in their prosperity; it would be desirable if masters, when they wanted servants, would see that they were well educated, and this would induce parents to pay more attention to the edu cation of their children.

If an annual examination of the children in parochial schools were to take place, might not this excite an additional interest in the parish?-Certainly so, if it were properly conducted; but I think girls on those occasions should not be brought too forward, as modesty is the ornament of the female character.

Do you think the object of parochial schools might be promoted by an annual meeting?It would excite the benevolent regard of the inhabitants, and increase the interest felt for the prosperity of the school.

Would this annual examination stimulate the master to prepare the children? Very much so, and would induce the children to strive to get forward.

Would the school rooms be large enough to admit the parents, the subscribers, and the children?I think not in general; commodious school rooms are wanted very much, all over the metropolis.

Then how could they be accommodated? I should think the parish church would be a very suitable place in general. What has been your plan of annual examination?-The children are generally informed on what subjects they will be examined, and the teachers prepare them accordingly.

In what way are they examined? They are generally called up, and they repeat chapters or psalms from the scriptures, and hymns and poetry, which they have committed to memory; and sometimes are asked plain questions from the scriptures.

Do the moral sentiments conveyed by the pieces committed to memory, in your opinion, produce right principles in the minds of children?-Yes, they very frequently recur

to their minds, and when they are exposed to temptations, guard them against the evil.

Are children fond of poetic pieces?-Very much so indeed; and they are very useful, because they so soon come to their minds; we also aim to imbue their minds with the scriptures as much as we possibly can.

If any general plan of education for the poor throughout London could be adopted in the respective parishes, do you imagine it would produce a change for the better in the character of the poor?-Very much so indeed.

Have you observed this in the schools to which you belong?-Yes, I have frequently observed the children very much improved in their moral character as well as in their condition.

Have you had much intercourse with their parents?-[ very frequently visit the parents of the Sunday school children at their own habitations; they are very grateful for the instruction their children receive, and for the visits of the teachers, from which they often likewise derive many benefits. Do you think parish officers might more strongly recommend the education of poor children to their parents who apply for relief? Yes, if they did it without any partiality or preference of religious sect or party, leaving it to the parents to choose which they thought preferable.

Would not poor children be greatly benefitted by being kept out of the streets, and sent to day schools?-Exceedingly so; the morals of children derive a vast deal of harm from their playing with idle and depraved children in the streets, and especially upon a Sunday, when children very often herd together, and initiate each other into the commission of crimes, it being a day of leisure.

Do you think the employment of children in schools produces habits of industry?-Very much so.

Has it the effect of fitting them for useful employments?I have known many cases of great improvement in that respect. I happened to meet two or three children, coming here this morning; one was the first child admitted into the Sunday school with which I am connected; she made a courtesy; I have learned she lives in a creditable situation, as housemaid in a respectable family in the city; and I met one or two others, who are likewise filling creditable situations with their fathers.

Would children be more likely to meet with employment, in your opinion, if they were better educated?-It is one of the first inquiries we make, when we want servants in trade, how they have been educated; and they are very frequently incapaciated from filling many situations, because they have not been taught when young..

Do you know whether shopkeepers and wholesale houses, in the city, prefer youths from the country, to those born and educated in London?-Very frequently so

Do they prefer youths in the various capacities of porters, warehousemen, and clerks, and in short, in all the departments of trade?—In most cases they certainly do prefer lads from the country.

Are they also preferred as domestic servants?-In general, so far as my experience extends.

For what reason are they preferred?-Because their character is better known, their morals more frequently uncontaminated; and I think the education of those who are sent. off to town has been much better attended to than those persons born in London.

Have you any idea how many young men come up to London annually to seek for situations, both domestic and in trade? It is impossible to speak with any accuracy; but I have heard many intelligent men, who have had long experience on the subject, calculate that nearly 10,000 come up annually.

Including footmen, porters, and clerks?—All descriptions of servants.

Are you acquainted with any of the principals of the trad ing and commercial houses of the city of London?-Yes, many of them.

Do you know whether they originally came from the country, or were born in London?--I should think the majority. came from the country.

Is it not a remarkable fact, and well known, that the large proportion of the housekeepers in the city of London came from the country? Yes, I conceive so.

And generally without property?-Most of them, I think. They have generally risen by their own merit?-Yes, from clerks, or even many of them from inferior situations; they have risen from their attention to business, and good education. Several of our lord mayors have risen from clerk's situ

ations.

Have they chiefly risen by their own merit, and having had the advantages of a useful education?-Yes, I conceive So, and a steadiness and perseverance in their conduct,

If parochial schools in London were better attended to, might not masters and mistresses be more disposed to receive servants from among the children brought up in those schools?-Yes, if the procuring of suitable situations for the children when they left the school were made an object of importance by the governors of the school. I fear it is too often