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is lined with stone, and to which there is a gradual descent by low steps to the water, which may be kept at any height required.

1. Institution for the higher classes of society.-The number of pupils since the first establishment has been gradually increasing. In 1816 there were only sixty. Most of them were English, Russians, Poles, Italians, Spaniards, and French; and the remainder Germans and Swiss. The whole time of these pupils was taken up by the alternate study of the living and dead languages, mathematics, pure and mixed, chemistry, natural philosophy, natural history, music, the fine arts, history, philosophy and ethics. The professors and masters were, in general, men of talent and unremitting in their attentions to their scholars. The exercises were conducted simultaneously, the pupils almost always standing before the table of the professor. Eight hours each day are dedicated to intellectual improvement. The fatigue attending application to abstract study is agreeably relieved by music; and the visitor in the course of his walks is often unexpectedly delighted by a chorus of harmonious voices falling on his ear from a distance. The boys are exercised in horsemanship, swimming, dancing and fencing, and in the different branches of gymnastics. They are also instructed in various mechanic occupations; and they are allowed to amuse themselves by cultivating small spots of ground, which are allotted for that purpose. From the information of the Count de Villevieille, the friend and coadjutor of M. de Fellenberg, it appears that, during the ten years in which he had resided at Hofwyl, not one of the pupils belonging to this class had died. The annual charge for each pupil is 2,800 francs.

2. The School for Poor Children, or School of Industry-The principle on which this establishment is founded is, that labour, and especially agricultural labour, should form the basis of the happiness of the different classes of society. There is no novelty in this maxim; and the merit of M. de Fellenberg and of his predecessor Pestalozzi, consists in the general application of the principle to practice, and in contriving and executing a scheme for the education of husbandmen and other labourers, combining habits of industry and skill with an indefinite degree of intellectual cultivation. The pupils in this school work nine hours a day in summer, and eight hours and a half in winter. Two hours only are devoted to study in summer, and an hour and a half in winter. Of the remaining portion of their time seven hours are passed in the open air, either in cultivating the ground, or in manual labour. As these young persons are expected to continue sixteen years in the school, or from the age of five to twenty-one, it is calculated that a fourth part of the time consecrated each day to moral and intellectual instruction will be sufficient. During that period they acquire iudustrious habits, and their improvement is promoted by the regular exercise of their faculties. The same children who are one day labouring, digging, drawing burthens, &c. may on the morrow be seen writing, drawing, making mathematical calculations, or studying geography. Notwithstanding the fatigue they undergo, they are by no means inferior in gaiety and activity to the

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members of the superior institution. This school at present, (November 1826,) consists of one hundred and eight pupils, who pay nothing. The founder instructs thirty of them at his own expense; and the rest are supported by different benefactors and subscribers. Previous to the age of fifteen, the labour of the pupil is unproductive; but after that period the produce of his industry is usually sufficient to cover the expense of his education and board. In the classes, besides reading, writing, lessons of religion and morality, and the elements of calculation, are taught geometry, music, botany, and always some mechanic profession. The pupils are not only insructed in making drawings from nature, and botanical sketches, but also in designing articles of furniture, machines, &c. Some of them have executed models of the Swiss mountains, and others have prepared herbals of dried plants.

When restored to their families, the pupils of the School of Industry have displayed the most exemplary conduct; and by their means, the best instruments of husbandry and various improvements in the mechanic arts have been spread throughout the country. It is a subject of complaint with M. de Fellenberg, that the relatives of his pupils too often withdraw them from the institution before the regulated period of dismission. The present immediate director of the School for the Poor has acquired so much distinction for his ability, that his name, Wehrli, has become a generic application; and M. de Fellenberg is frequently applied to, to recommend a "Wehrli," that is, a person qualified to conduct a similar school. The whole number of individuals, pupils and teachers, belonging to the institution of Hofwyl, is about three hundred.

The agricultural concerns of the establishment are said to be in a There are two hundred and fourteen very prosperous condition. acres of land in the estate, which formerly belonged to M. d'Erlach. The institution of M. de Fellenberg had its commencement in 1799.

An intermediate school for the middle classes of society has probably been opened at Hofwyl, as the building destined for the purpose was finished in the course of last year. The proposed number of pupils was fifty, and the annual terms are 1200 francs for each pupil. From each of the other institutions M. de Fellenberg has selected those parts of their respective plans which are best adapted to the education of young persons destined for the professions of commerce, manufactures, or the liberal arts; and from his extensive experience it may be expected that this new institution will become very success

ful.

WILLIAM KITCHINER, M.D.

THE throngs which crowd the principal paths to literary fame, drive many of her votaries into bye-ways, where there are fewer obstacles and competitors to be encountered, and where the chances of success increase in proportion as the necessity for exertion becomes diminished. Among contemporary writers, who have endeavoured to obtain celebrity through the eccentricity of their pursuits, few have been more prosperous than Dr WILLIAM KITCHINER, professor of cookery, medicine, music, optics, and domestic economy.

This gentleman was the son of Mr Justice Kitchiner, a Middlesex magistrate, who for many years carried on business as a coal-merchant at Beaufort buildings, in the Strand. He acquired a handsome fortune, which he bequeathed to the subject of this memoir, whose personal history may be told in a few words. He was educated at Eton school, on leaving which he settled in the metropolis; and having obtained the diploma of M.D. from the university of Glasgow, he engaged in practice as a physician. Early in life he married; but a separation from his wife, by mutual consent of the parties, shortly after took place, and he was left at liberty to enjoy the sweets of single blessedness, and employ his ample fortune in the gratification of his taste for experimental cookery. He treated eating and drinking as not merely the most important, but as the only serious business of life; and having caught the attention of the public by the singularity of his conduct and behaviour, he proceeded to promulgate, under the title of The Cook's Oracle,' the laws of the culinary art, professedly founded on his own practice. The sort of mock-importance with which Dr Kitchiner was accustomed to prosecute his gastronomical researches, is well illustrated by the following note sent as an invitation to one of his public dinners :

* Dr Kitchiner's father is understood to have left him an unincumbered property to the amount of sixty or seventy thousand pounds.-New Monthly Magazine, vol. xxi. p, 214.

"DEAR SIR,

"The honour of your company is requested to dine with the Committee of Taste,' on Wednesday next, the 10th instant. The specimens will be placed on the table at five o'clock precisely, when the business of the day will immediately commence. "I have the honour to be your most obedient servant, "W. KITCHINER, Secretary.

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August 1825.

"43, Warren street, Fitzroy square."

"At the last general meeting it was unanimously resolved, that"1. An invitation to Eta Beta Pi,'* must be answered in writing as soon as possible after it is received, within twenty-four hours at the latest, reckoning from that on which it is dated; otherwise the secretary will have the profound regret to feel that the invitation has been definitively declined.

"2. The secretary having represented that the perfection of several of the preparations is so exquisitely evanescent, that the delay of one minute after their arrival at the meridian of concoction will render them no longer worthy of men of taste;

"Therefore to ensure the punctual attendance of those illustrious gastrophilists, who on grand occasions are invited to join this high tribunal of taste for their own pleasure and the benefit of their country, it is irrevocably resolved, That the Janitor be ordered not to admit any visiter, of whatever eminence of appetite, after the hour at which the secretary shall have announced that the specimens are ready.' By order of the committee,

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"W. KITCHINER, Secretary." *

"He was accustomed to assemble his friends at a converzatione of a Tuesday evening, at his house in Warren street, Fitzroy square; a select party being invited to a previous dinner. The last of these convivial meetings was on February 20th, 1827. The dinner, as usual, was announced at five minutes after five. As the first three guests entered his drawing-room, he received them seated at his grand piano-forte, and struck up, See the Conquering Hero comes!' accompanying the air with a peal on the kettle-drums beneath the instrument. For the regulation of the Tuesday evening's converzatione, Dr Kitchiner used to fix a placard over his chimney-piece, inscribed- At seven come-at eleven go. It is said, that upon one of these occasions, the facetious George Colman, on observing the admonition, took an opportunity to add the word it,' making the last line At eleven go it. At these little social meetings a signal for supper was

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This pun is borrowed from Hogarth, who etched a dinner ticket, on which was represented a sort of heraldic shield with a pie-dish in the centre, and a knife and fork for supporters; the Greek letters T. E. B. FI. being placed as a motto below.

↑ Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xcvii, part 1. p. 490.

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invariably given at half-past nine. All who were not desirous of further refreshment would then retire; and those who remained descended to the parlour to partake of the friendly fare, according to the season of the year. A cold joint, a lobster-sallad, and some little entremêts, usually formed the summer repast; and in winter a few nicely-cooked little hot made-dishes were spread upon the board, with wines, liqueurs, a variety of excellent ales, and other choice stores from his well-stocked cellar. As these parties were composed of the professors and amateurs of all the liberal arts, it will readily be imagined that the mind as well as the body was abundantly regaled that the feast of reason and the flow of soul' were never wanting. So well were the orderly habits of the doctor understood, that at the appointed time, some considerate guest would observe, The clock is about to strike eleven.' Hats and cloaks, coats and umbrellas, were then brought in; the doctor attended his visiters to the street-door, looked up at the stars, if there were any visible-gave each of his friends a cordial shake of the hand, wished him a hearty good night, and so the evening closed." *

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Dr Kitchiner was as great a stickler for punctuality as Gibbon, and went so far as to keep a slate in his hall, on which his hours for receiving visiters were indicated. Many, who knocked at his door, thought this a strange humour; but those who knew the doctor never felt offended, even when denied admittance. Some favoured few, however, were on what he termed his free list.'To such he was always accessible.

"Dr Kitchiner died very suddenly on Monday, February 26, 1827, at midnight, after having returned home, about an hour, to Warren street, from a dinner party at Mr Braham's. He had been in uncommonly good spirits during the afternoon, and enjoyed the company to a later hour than his usually very early habits allowed. In general very silent and timid in his manner, on this occasion, among other pleasures, the talents of his host, and the merriment created by Mr Mathews' rehearsing some of his new comic entertainments, seemed greatly to exhilirate the worthy Doctor, insomuch, that he forgot his reserve, and, in his turn, amused the party with some of his whimsical reasons for inventing odd things and giving them odd names. For Dr K. was completely what is called a character. His appearance, his dress, his usages, his person, were all peculiar and quaint; but it must be said at the same time, that kindness of heart, benevolence of disposition, and a firm integrity in the graver affairs of the world threw an ample covering mantle over his innocent eccentricities and human frailties." +

* Idem, p. 471..

+ Literary Gazette, No. 528,

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