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Leader (1850-1860), 30th November 1850, Edition Town of 1, Page 854, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      time establishing the college as a boon for highly educated young ladies , is more and more felt—that both objects are important , but that the instruction of the lower grade of applicants is the pressing one ; and for those who wish to keep the more highly instructed class in view , there is nothing left for it but to advocate with all their strength the claims of girls to the establishment of good schools—as good in their way as the City of London School is for boys . . _

      These schools should be placed under first-rate inspection , and the teachers carefully chosen . The majority of instructors , and , in every case , the superintendent , should be , I think , a well-qualified lady ; but male Professors should also be employed , and thorough grounding in language , particularly in reading , writing , and making acquaintance with the best models of their own language , should be a sine qua non . London is not without examples of very respectable attempts at improving girls' dayschools . The Bifkbeek schools , generally in connection with Mechanics' Institutes , teach very well . The aid of good masters is not denied them , and they receive gratuitous lectures on the common , but neglected , subjects of health and disease , of moral

      statistics , &e ., from able and indefatigable men . Well would it be for many of our young ladies if they were as soundly taught on these points as the girls of the National-hall School , in Holborn . Our pride and our prejudices must be looked to , if they will not allow us to give honour where it is justly due , nor to borrow thankfully whatever is really good , let it come from what quarter it may . If we can improve upon it , by all means let us do so . I think we can . I believe there are more elevating views than those of Utilitarians ; and if those higher views are ours in the deepest and most inward sense , that we may work better for our gex in London at this juncture than we have ever done : but in this work I earnestly hope good aid will be vouchsafed to us by able , high-toned men .

      fruitful in comforts . Many of your readers may have visited the lodging-house for families lately opened in Bloomsbury . Two such sized rooms as are there allotted , with pantry , with the advantage of water and of gas laid on , would , if nicely fitted up , and with due attention to the situation of the residence , amply meet the wants and wishes of many a lady , or even of two sisters . Of course there must be a resident lady , whose business it would be to hire servants and secure as far as possible orderly attention to the inmates .

      I am not here contemplating association in meals ; but there might be an ordinary provided twice a-day ( for early or late diners ) , if the management were good ; or at all events , should any respectable person be inclined to try the experiment , I see not why it should not be tried , however unwilling I might be to have the prosperity of the establishment hinge upon it . In this case , however , I cannot help thinking that a lady should be at liberty either to take her meal at a public table or to make her purchase and carry it to her own room , as from a restaurant ' s . People may call this unsociable , but , surely , many

      opportunities , and those more agreeable than the mere process of dining together , might be found in such a dwelling as this for pleasant intercourse . Acquaintances of past or present times will meet together—there will be the social tea-drinking or the pleasant junction by twos and threes of breakfasts taken at one another ' s rooms . It is easy to see , in short , that by one mode of management a certain number of ladies will be made perfectly comfortable , while others require something different . But not so easy is it to discern why both should not have what they want . Most munificently have the claims of one class of labourers to encreased comforts been

      lately met . Let not enterprize tarry before it has reached the class of " lone women" who so peculiarly need home comforts , and who , after toiling all day long at their exhausting work , can ill bear to wrangle with an exacting landlady , or grope their way to their miserable half-lighted and half-warmed

      room . Here , then , are two much-needed works to be done—Day Schools , preparatory to the Ladies Colleges , and improved Lodging-houses for Ladies . May we soon see both wants supplied !—Yours , &c , No . 67 .

      It is certainly a very great discouragement that our Government , to go to the head at once , takes no steps to improve any girls' schools except those for the lower orders ; and as to our corporations , whatever they may do for the poor , I am afraid they have not as yet condescended to help on in any material degree the education of the daughters of tradesmen or second-rate professional people . To recur again to the City of London School . If , for the small sum of £ 8 a-year , a parent can ensure a capital education for his son , why should not his daughter be assisted in some proportion in a similar manner ? For nearly children

      double the above sum about twenty-four may now receive instruction in the Preparatory Classes at Harley-street , for three hours a day , and for £ 26 per annum ( not including , however , instrumental music , which is a separate charge ) a girl may obtain all the advantages of the colleges at Harley-street , Bedford-square , and Finsbury ; but how much better would it be if the departments of school and college were so provided for so that the more universal want were the most easily and cheaply supplied , while the college remained rather the after privilege , —a most estimable one , indeed .

      As your correspondent , No . 47 , has united the subjects of " Associated Homes for Women" with " Colleges for Ladies , '' I trust I may be permitted to pursue the first subject a little further . I cannot , indeed , doubt that an Associated Home , such as has been pictured by Miss Martineau , would be a most valuable refuge to many . Still , part of the plan presents many difficulties—the class of ladies who want small lodgings in London have , in their long combat with social difficulties , acquired more of secretiveness than is amiable , — - their habits are often formed with a dislike of close observation .

      This has its good as well as its bad side . Often , I believe , the woman who provides but a poor meal for herself calls on one still poorer to partake with her ; and even from , the fragments of that scanty repast she can and she does carry over a morsel to the sick and starving child over the way . That curious , particular , somewhat cross ,, but very worthy lady , would not like half so well to cat her juicy slice of meat in company with a number of other ' comfortable " people . She would rather economize for herself . And why should sho not ? There may be an excellent service rendered to society by the Associated Homes for those who like them ; but as you cannot construct " happy families " in despite of the disinclinations of the members thereof , and as the

      disagreeable associates will have much power and annoyance under such circumstances , I cannot help wishing that some good speculator in building and contriving -would risk the erection of a congcrie of private lodgings for single women on a better , wholcsomur , and every way more desirable footing than such as tho possessors of small property nre now driven to resort to . Surely iherc would not be much hazard in this . Think of the numerous poor Indies who arc at the mercy of grasping landladies nnd tho dirty uml thievish servants set to wait upon them . The actual saving in rent might not be much ; but grant that this were not among the advantages ( direct and apparent ) , it would ufford protection from waste and dishonesty , and might be made

      Untitled Article

      NEW AND OLD UNITARIANISM . Nov . 19 , 1850 . Sin , —In my last letter I spoke of tho Unitarians as a sect . If by that word be denoted a general fundamental agreement in opinion , no class of believers have less right to the appellation than they . Belief in the unity of God as opposed to the Trinitarianism of the orthodox churches , is the only thread which , now strained to its utmost , holds them together amidst the religious movements of the times . Beyond this there is not a single opinion , philosophical or religiousthat I know of , which can be

      , predicated of them ns a denomination . Some of them are Materialists and Necessarians , other Spiritualists and Libertarians ; while upon many doctrines of Christianity , nay , upon those conceptions of it which underlie nil doctrinal opinion , they are often diametrically and irreconcilably opposed . Hence any description of Unitarianism which overlooks these distinctions will be found grossly inapplicable to some part of its possessors . But if some one should claim to do for them ^ y hat they cannot do for themselves , viz ., define their creed , and say , Such and such men do not believe this , and ,

      therefore , are not Unitarians . " I reply , " Well , then , I am describing the people who call themselves Unitarians , and are known to the world by that name . " Perhaps , the most marked difference among Unitarians of the present day is that between , as they are often called , the " new school" and the " school . " The former , however , being in the main the Unitarianism , of Priestley and Belsham , and , therefore , familiar to the student of religious odiI

      nion , I shall not dwell upon it further than is necessary to bring into prominence the characteristics of its younger rival . Never having heard or read a distinct statement of these , I find some difficulty in describing them clearly and in brief compass : my description must be taken rather as the impression which they leave on the mind of an individual enquirer . They appear to me to lie principally in a different estimate , both of the Christian Scriptures and of the nature and mission of Christ . A

      controversy between a Unitarian of the ' school " and a Trinitarian was a comparatively simple matter . Both parties conducted the argument on the same ground ; both admitted the Scriptures to be the ultimate appeal . -But the Unitarians of the " school" deny the authority of the Scriptures in any ordinary sense of that word . They , consequently , hold the miracles recorded in them to be at least debateable , and to require , not to afford , proof . They appear not to admit the inspiration of Christ in the ordinary sense of the word . They certainly do not regard any inspiration they may attribute to him , as precluding him from intellectual error , or the prejudices and mistakes of his age and country . Yet

      they claim for him a perfection of character involving moral infallibility . These and others of their views are not so often explicitly put forth as implied in their language which , to me at least , indicates a strong tendency to take Christianity out of the region of the supernatural and miraculous and place it on a level with the many other wondrous influences which have shaped the minds and destinies of the race . There is a marked avoidance , whether conscious or not , of the distinctive official titles by which other Unitarians speak of Christ . Wo miss the stately theological courtesy usually deemed indispensable on approaching this subject , and find in its stead a far freer and more natural treatment . I

      have frequently felt an indistinctness in the common Unitariaa conception of Christ . While loudly exclaiming against the doctrine of the two natures , Unitarians have not been wholly free from a difficulty of a somewhat similar kind in their own theology . Insisting upon the strict humanity of Jesus , they yet attribute to him a peculiar connection with God , a peculiar knowledge of his mind and purposes which put him beyond the conditions of ordinary human nature . By the freedom from this inconsistency which the language of the new Unitarians implies , their descriptions of Christ are far more lifelike , and appeal with far greater effect to our sympathies .

      What fragment , then , of Christian doctrine , it may be asked , do these new Unitarians retain ? Mr . Newman , in his Phases of T ' aith > has , with characteristic precision , laid his finger upon the point in question . It is the belief in the perfection of Christ ' s character , to which I have before alluded . In the work just mentioned , containing , as was truly said of its predecessor , " more of the spirit of Christianity than nine-tenths of the volumes coldly elaborated in its defence , " Mr . Newman has devoted gome pages to the refutation of this belief . In so doing he has , with a manful courage which purity of thought and intention such as his alone can give , struck a blow at the central idol in tho vast temple of dogmatic Christianity .

      I am aware that the -sketch I have given of this aspect of Unitarianism is slight and defective ; possibly in some particular erroneous . In excuse I have to plead that the subject is a comparatively recent one , and has hitherto been rather implied than systematically set forth . Perhaps some one of your readers may help us to a better account . You , Sir , are conferring a great boon on the lovers of truth of

      all sects by opening a medium in your columns for the free and friendly discussion of their mutual opinions . I will not trespass further upon your valuable space ; but as the views I have been describing are , I firmly believe , pregnant with important consequences to the religion of the future , I hope to advert to them again , and to notice , more especially , the writings of Mr . Martineau , if not the fons ct origo % at any rate the decus ct tutamon of this new Unitarianism . I remain , Sir , yours truly , GLOUCH 8 TIIENSIS .

      Untitled Article

      FREE ADMISSION TO CHURCHES . Boyne-cottagc , Nov . 17 , 1850 . Sitt , — The Bishop of London , in his recent charge to the clergy assembled in St . Paul ' s Cathedral , threw out a suggestion , with reference to the great gathering of nations in Hyde-park , in the spring of next year , to the effect that Bibles and Prayer-books should be distributed amongst thoso who might be willing to receive them . Whilst we are in the giving vein , I would suggest

      Untitled Article

      EDUCATION . Nov . 20 , 1850 . Sm , —To the improvements suggested by J . E . S . I would add that , in every school , there ought to be as great a variety of teachers as possible , so as to prevent the minds of pupils from being stamped with the peculiarities of any one man , however excellent he may be ; and to furnish them with all possible means of having their mental powers developed to their full extent , according to their respective constitutions . I need not insist upon what is so well known , that constant contact with one man of authority and

      superior intelligence , subjects youths , to a very great extent , to Ids habits of mind , although their own organization might be far superior to his . It is also well known that a pupil who is a complete dunce under one good teacher , may learn well under another , merely because , in the former case , they are not adapted to each other , whilst in the latter they are . This , like many other improvements , cannot be adopted without rendering education dearer , and so from all who love

      it is likely to meet with opposition money better than instruction . There is little fear , however , that , if parents generally understood the subject of Education , they would withhold the sums requisite to the right training of their own offspring , for whom they may be supposed to have a sufficient amount of natural affection to induce them to do for them what they think best . But until they think rightly on the subject , we need not expect their cooperation . John Muudoch .

      Untitled Article

      854 © ft * Heaitet * [ Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 30, 1850, page 854, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1861/page/14/