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were paid ten shillings weekly, and had also £8 10s. a-year.

A description of the building, chiefly

borrowed from Telford's article on architecture in Brewster's Encyclopædia, will probably interest our readers more than any other selection we could make from the volume:

niches, with busts in them. On the south side is the chapel, with large Gothic windows: but the entrance door has small coupled Corinthian columns, with a semi-circular pediment hundred windows in the hospital, and, strange There are upwards of two over each pair. to say, no one is precisely the same as the other. Notwithstanding this ingenious variety, even an experienced eye would not at first discover this singular freak of the architect. We "A general description of the building, con- know,' says Sir Thomas Telford, to whom we formable to the original design, will naturally have been chiefly indebted for the preceding he expected in this place. George Heriot's description, of no other instance in the works Hospital is a commanding edifice, consisting of a man of acknowledged talents, where the of one square court, encompassed with build-operation of changing styles is so evident. In ings. It has as shown in the frontispiece the chapel windows, although the general outto this volume-projecting turrets at the exter-lines are fine Gothic, the mouldings are Ronal angles, and a square tower over the entrance, which is carried up to double the height of the rest of the building, and finished with a cupola. The windows have pediments over them; some of these are pointed, some semicircular, and open in the middle. The entrance archway has coupled Doric columns with fully enriched entablature; but this is broken by heavy trusses, having grotesque Gothic ornaments. Immediately above the archway are twisted Corinthian columns; the whole of the centre front is crowned and sur

rounded by minute sculptures. On entering the court, and immediately above the centre archway, stands a fine statue of the Founder. The interior of the square, which is about thirty-two yards by thirty, has arcades on the east and north sides, and towers at the four angles, in which are stairs. The windows of three sides have pilasters and regular sculptured ornaments over them. In the upper row, on the north or entrance side, in the middle of the sculpture over the windows, there are small April 7

June 2

xxii s.

To the 6 wemen that drew the red, xxii s To the gentlewemen that oulk [week] For 6 shakells to the wemeinis hands, with the cheingeis to thame, pryce of the piece xxiiijs is vii lib. iiij s. Mair for 14 loks for their wastis and thair hands, at vi s. the piece, is iiij lib. iiij s. For ane quhip to the gentlewemen in the cairt, xij s "We hope that no one, on perusing the above, will conclude, that, in Scotland, females were generally put to such servile and shocking work in the seventeenth century. These women and gentlewomen, we have no doubt, were hardened offenders, upon whom every kind of Church censure had been fruitlessly expended. There being then no bridewells or houses of correction, it seems probable that the magistrates, whose jurisdiction extended even to hanging, and drowning in the North Loch, had tried the effect of public exposure by sending these culprits to clear the foundation for the hospital. To prevent their escape, locks and shackles had been used in the scandalous manner noticed in the treasurer's account."-p. 61.

man. In the entrance archways, although the
principal members are Roman, the pinnacles,
trusses, and minute sculptures partake of the
Gothic. The outlines of the whole design
have evidently been modelled on the latter
style of the baronial castellated dwelling. It
forms one of the most magnificent features of
this singular city, and is a splendid monument
of the munificence of one of its citizens.”–
p. c. 3.

Balcanquel's name does not often again occur in the records of the hospital. He was supposed to have been consulted in Charles's efforts to introduce the English form of Church government into Scotland. He became Dean of Durham, but was soon proclaimed an incendiary, and had to fly. He died in Wales, in the year 1645.

Laud had assisted at the coronation in

Scotland of Charles, and he interested himself in the prosperity of the institution. But Laud's power for good or evil soon ceased, and the civil distractions of the period interrupted every thing that the trustees were doing, or had proposed to do. Johnstone, whose heart was in the work, had hoped before his death to have seen the hospital opened for the reception of scholars. He died without having his wish accomplished, leaving a large property of his own to purposes similar in kind to that of Heriot's.

The governors of Heriot's Hospital, as owners of the lands of Broughton, held baronial courts for fully a century, and capital crimes were occasionally tried before them.

During the time occupied in building the hospital, and while nothing could be done for the proper objects of Heriot's bounty, the trustees felt themselves justified in giving small pensions to relatives of Heriot. In 1650 the building was nearly completed, and was first occupied by a visiter on whom

its governors little counted. Cromwell was in Europe; for gravity, moderator to any destined to visit them, when he assembly in the world; and for his skill in military affairs, might be general of any army."

To peace and truth his glorious way had
ploughed,

And on the back of crowned Fortune proud
Had reared God's trophies, and his work pur-

sued:

While Derwen stream, with blood of Scots im-
brued,

And Dunbarfield resound his praises loud,
And Worcester's laureate wreath."

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The Heriot gardens were a fashionable promenade. The governors took care from the first that they should present some of the advantages of a botanic garden. Some fear of the plants being stolen by florists is suggested, and endeavored to be guarded against; but we suppose all such regulations are vain. Pennant, writing in 1769, tells us that these gardens "were formerly the resort of the gay, and there the Scottish poets often laid, in their comedies, the scenes of intrigue."

It is probable that the governors of Heriot's thought that Oliver had as little right to the high praises given him by puritan John, as to the hospital itself in which he stabled his troopers, and to which, after An amusing story is told of the boys of seizing it unceremoniously by the right of Heriot's Hospital, in 1682. The Earl of the strongest, he put forward other claims. Argyle was in this year convicted of high "Heriot," quoth Cromwell, was a natu- treason, for refusing the test oath without ralized Englishman, and had acquired his certain qualifications. The Heriot boys fortune in England. He had no right to ordered their watch dog to take the test, bequeath it to Scotland-[we do not see and offered him the paper. When he rethe consequence of this reasoning, Oliver; fused, they rubbed it over with butter. He it sounds like what Newman calls logical then licked off the butter, but spat out the sequence]-and at all events the revenue paper. They empannelled a jury, tried him has been applied contrary to the founder's for treason, and hanged him. orders, and therefore belongs to the parlia- In 1741, Whitfield visited Edinburgh, ment of England!" Well argued, heroic and went to Heriot's Hospital. He is said soldier! There is something to be said in to have wrought a great change on the boys praise of robbery when it assumes this in the institution. However this be, the high tone. Thou, too, shalt have thine ad-record of his visit states the Heriot's Hosmirers!

away.

pital boys to have been the worst boys in the town-a fact not unlikely, for we be lieve that no anxiety on the part of trustees or governors can ever be of the same use as the ceaseless vigilance of the parental eye. Much may be done for children in these public institutions, but more than is possible to be effected may also be expected. The fagging (or, as it was called, the gar

Oliver's stormy hour, however, passed More lands were bought. All was again prosperous, and on the 13th of April, 1659, thirty boys were elected on the foundation. On the same day, the first "schoolmaster" was elected. New brooms sweep clean, and the first act of the governors was creditable. There were three candidates, whom they examined in grammar and arith-ring) system prevailed till within the last metic. One of the candidates was a relative of Heriot's "He was a weak professor of both" [grammar and arithmetic]. The two others were equal, and in these circumstances a preference was given to one who had the good fortune to be a “burgess's bairn." The dress of the boys was "sad-russet cloth doublets, breeches, and stockings, hose and gown of the same color, with black hats and strings."

twenty years to a fearful extent. It would appear that some of the appointments of masters were of weak, obstinate, well meaning men; that to this the insubordination of the boys was to be referred. "The depraving influence of one ill-judged appointment may have extended its consequences not only over the duration of a single incumbency, but over every succeeding period. Something, of course, must be reAnniversary sermons are preached on ferred to the imperfect civilization of the what is called Heriot's day (the 27th of period." In 1752, cock fighting was proJune). The first was by Robert Douglas, hibited. In 1756 a master was solemnly a remarkable man, who had been a chaplain deposed on account of his unfitness for his in Gustavus Adolphus's army. Gustavus said of him-"There goes a man that, for wisdom, might be a counsellor to any king VOL. IX. No. I.

5

office.

In 1759, the governors of the hospital had a matter of some difficulty to manage. It

Two gover

nors-one lay, one clerical-are each fortnight obliged to inspect the schools in addition to the weekly visits of the head master of the hospital; and written reports are made of the results of these visits half-yearly. There is no charge for education, and not only are school requisites supplied, but each school is furnished with a valuable library. The gratuitous education of the poor will compel a higher order of education for the rich. The masters of the juvenile schools are persons highly qualified; and their remuneration is, considering the average income of parochial teachers in Scotland, liberal in the extreme. The salary is £140 a year. The masters are assisted by apprentice

was one of those cases in which honest and is not more than £3000 a year. obstinate men might easily be supposed never to come to an agreement. The whole of the ground to the north of the city, on which the new town of Edinburgh stands, was the property of the hospital, and it was sold by the trustees to the city. The prodigious increase of value of this property which was anticipated, and which has since been realized to an extent far surpassing all anticipation, made a transaction, in which the magistrates of the city acting as sellers on one side (for they, as such magistrates, were governors of the hospital), and purchasers on the other, one of great delicacy. The act was represented as a dishonest sacrifice of the property of the institution. This clearly was a mistake, for in the hands of teachers-an exceedingly well-conceived the institution it could be worth comparatively little; but it led to litigation, and it was not till after some time that a right to sell was established.

part of the system, and which almost wholly gets rid of the plan of monitors, prefects, &c. These younger assistants are bound to act as apprentice-teachers for three years. In 1762, John Erskine returned to the They are paid three shillings and sixpence institution the sum given him for an anniver-a-week for the first year; four shillings and sary sermon, which he preached, requesting that it might be expended in the purchase of religious and moral treatises for the boys. In this gift originated the library.

In 1835, it was found that there was a surplus fund, and on the motion of Duncan M'Laren, Esq., one of the magistrates of Edinburgh, a part of this surplus revenue was applied "to the erection of schools for the education of such burgesses' sons as cannot be admitted into the hospital." Infant and juvenile schools were established in the several districts of the city. The payment of the masters and mistresses was made to depend, in part, on the number of pupils attending. Within a fortnight after the first school was opened, the applications for admission were seven hundred, though the number to be received was limited by the government to two hundred and fifty. The children eligible are: first, children in poor circumstances of deceased burgesses and freemen of Edinburgh; second, children of such burgesses and freemen as are not sufficiently able to maintain them; and, thirdly, children of poor citizens of Edinburgh, residing within the royalty.

Of these schools the plan seems admirable, and the success, as far as we have the means of judging, perfect. They are connected with the hospital, not only by being under the management of the same governors, but by the head master of the hospital being the inspector of all the Heriot schools. Of the latter, we believe, the whole expense

sixpence during the second, and six shillings for the third. When the apprentice-teachers are selected from the boys educated at the hospital, they are bound for five years, and in addition to their weekly pay, receive £10 a year. The school is divided into five sections; four are taught by apprentices-the fifth by the head master. The apprentice-teachers receive lessons themselves each evening in the more advanced branches of instruction.

We cannot find room to give the calculations from which Dr. Steven has satisfied himself that the average expense of each child to the institution is, as nearly as possible, £1. This is exclusive of what is to be calculated for building, repairs, &c., of the school in which they are educated. When these expenses are added, the average amounts to about £1 13s. 6d., or sevenpence halfpenny a week.

We regret that we have not room to dwell at greater length on this exceedingly important volume. In Ireland, and at this moment, the instruction it gives is such, that we think any persons connected with education not availing themselves of the information it gives, are neglecting a positive duty. We have done all that it was possible for us to do, consistent with the space that we can give to this article, to select and condense what we regard as most useful; but it is impossible in the compass of a few pages to do more than refer to many things, of which the great practical value

cannot be exhibited except by entering into minute detail. To Dr. Steven, the public, and more especially such of the public as take an interest in the great question of education, owe a deep debt of gratitude.

From Tait's Magazine.

SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON.

BY GEORGE GILFILLAN, AUTHOR OF "A GALLE-
RY OF LITERARY PORTRAITS

to music, and satirizing the principalities and powers of heaven, as bitterly as he had done the bards and reviewers of earth. Into those giddy and terrible heights where Milton had entered a permitted guest, in privilege of virtue; where Goethe had walked in like a passionless and prying cherub, forgetting to worship in his absorbing desire to know; and on which Shelley was wrecked and stranded, in the storm of his fanatical unbelief; Byron is upborne by the presumption and the despair of his mental misery. Unable to see through the high walls which bound and beset our limited faculties and little life, he can at least dash his head against them. Hence, in "ManPERHAPS the leading authors of the age fred," "Cain," "Heaven and Earth," and may be divided into three classes. 1st, "The Vision of Judgment," we have him Those who have written avowedly and en- calling upon the higher minds of his age to tirely for the few. 2dly, Those who have be as miserable as he was, just as he had written principally for the many. And, in his first poems addressed the same sad 3dly, Those who have sought their audi- message, less energetically, and less earnence in both classes, and have succeeded estly, to the community at large. And in forming, to some extent, at once an ex- were it not unspeakably painful to contemoteric and an esoteric school of admirers. plate a noble mind engaged in this profitOf the first class, Coleridge and Words- less "apostleship of affliction," this thankworth are the most distinguished specimens. less gospel of proclamation to men, that beScott and Dickens stand at the head of the cause they are miserable, it is their duty to second; and Byron and Bulwer are facile become more so; that because they are principes of the third. Both these last bad, they are bound to be worse; we might named writers commenced their career by be moved to laughter by its striking resemappealing to the sympathies of the multi-blance to the old story of the fox who had tude; but by and bye, either satiated by lost his tail. their too easy success, or driven onward by In the career of Bulwer, we find a faint the rapid and gigantic progress of their own yet traceable resemblance to that of Byron. minds, they aimed at higher things, and Like him, he began with wit, satire, and sought, nor sought in vain, a more select persiflage. Like him, he affected, for a audience. Byron's mind, in itself essen- season, a melodramatic earnestness. tially unspeculative, was forced upwards him, he was at last stung into genuine sinupon those rugged and dangerous tracts of cerity, and shot upwards into a higher thought, where he has gathered the rarest sphere of thought and feeling. The three of his beauties, by intimacy with Shelley, periods in Byron's history, are distinctly by envious emulation of his Lake contem- marked by the three works, "English poraries, and, above all, by the pale hand of Bards," "Childe Harold," and "Cain." his misery, unveiling to him heights and So "Pelham," "Eugene Aram," and depths in his nature and genius, which "Zanom," accurately mete out the stages were previously unknown and unsuspected, in Bulwer's progress. Minor points of reand beckoning him onward through their semblance might be noted between the pair. grim and shadowy regions. He grew, at Boch sprang from the aristocracy; and one, once, and equally, in guilt, misery, and a least, was prouder of what he deduced power. An intruder too, on domains, from Norman blood, than from nature. Bulwhere some other thinkers had long fixed wer, like Byron, is a distinguished dandy. their calm and permanent dwelling, his ap- Like him, too, he has been separated from pearance was the more startling. Here his wife. Like him, he is liberal in his was a dandy discussing the great questions of natural and moral evil; a roue in silk stockings meditating suicide, and mouthing blasphemy on an Alpine rock; a brilliant and popular wit and poet, setting Spinoza

Like

politics. And while Byron, by way of doing penance, threw his jaded system into the Greek war, Bulwer has with better result leaped into a tub of cold water!

Point and brilliance are at once perceiv

ed to be the leading qualities of Bulwer's and his opinions, his taste and style, are writing. His style is vicious from excess those of a modern Frenchman. But these, of virtue, weak from repletion of strength. long subjected to English influences, and Every word is a point, every clause a long trained to be candidates for an Engbeauty, the close of every sentence alish popularity, have been modified and climax. He is as sedulous of his every altered from their native bent. In all his stroke, as if the effect of the whole depend-writings, however, you breathe a foreign ed upon it. His pages are all sparkling atmosphere, and find very slight sympathy with minute and insulated splendors; not with the habits, manners, or tastes of his suffused with a uniform and sober glow, native country. Not Zanoni alone, of his nor shown in the reflected light of one sol-heroes, is cut off from country, as by a itary and surpassing beauty. Some writers chasm, or if held to it, held only by ties peril their reputation upon one long diffi- which might with equal strength bind him. cult leap, and it accomplished, walk on at to other planets: all his leading characters, their leisure. With others, writing is a whatever their own pretensions, or whatever succession of hops, steps, and jumps. This their creator may assert of them, are in rein general is productive of a feeling of tedi-ality citizens of the world, and have no um. It teases and fatigues the mind of the more genuine relation to the land whence reader. It is like crying perpetually upon they spring, than have the winds, which a hearer, who is attending with all his linger not over its loveliest landscapes, and might, to attend more carefully. It at hurry past its most endeared and consecraonce wearies and provokes, insults the ted spots. Eugene Aram is not an Englishreader, and betrays a fear of conscious man; Rienzi is hardly an Italian. Bulwer weakness on the part of the author. If in is perhaps the first instance of a great novBulwer's writings we weary less than in elist obtaining popularity without a particle others, it is owing to the artistic skill with of nationality in his spirit, or in his wriwhich he intermingles his points of humor tings. We do not question his attachment with those of sententious reflection or vivid to his own principles in his native country; narrative. All is point but the point per- but of that tide of national prejudice, which petually varies from gay to grave, from lively Burns says, "shall boil on in his breast till to severe; including in it raillery and rea- the floodgates of life shut in eternal rest," soning, light dialogue and earnest discus- he betrays not one drop. His novels might sion, bursts of political feeling and raptures all have appeared as translations from a of poetical description; here a sarcasm, foreign language, and have lost but little of almost worthy of that " inspired monkey," their interest or verisimilitude. This is the Voltaire, and there a passage of pensive more remarkable, as his reign exactly grandeur, which Rousseau might have writ-divides the space between that of two ten in his tears. To keep up this per- others, who have obtained boundless fame, petual play of varied excellence, required at once great vigor, and great versatility of talents for Bulwer never walks through his part, never proses, is never tame, and seldom indeed substitutes sound for sense, or mere flummery for force and fire. He generally writes his best; and our great quarrel, indeed, with him is, that he is too uniformly erect in the stirrups, too conscious himself of his exquisite management, of his complete equipment, of the speed with which he devours the dust; and seldom exhibits the careless grandeur of one who is riding at the pace of the whirlwind, with perfect self-oblivion, and with perfect security.

Bulwer reminds us less of an Englishman Frenchified, than of a Frenchman partially Anglicized. The original powers and tendencies of his mind, his eloquence, wit, sentiments, and feelings, his talents

greatly in consequence of the very quality, in varied forms, which Bulwer lacks. Scott's knowledge and love of Scotland, Dickens' knowledge and love of London, stand in curious antithesis to Bulwer's intense cosmopolitanism, and ideal indifference.

Akin to this, and connected either as cause or as effect with it, is a certain dignified independence of thought and feeling, inseparable from the motion of Bulwer's mind. He is not a great original thinker; on no one subject can he be called profound, but on all, he thinks and speaks for himself. He belongs to no school either in literature or in politics, and he has created no school. He is too proud for a Radical, and too wide-minded for a Tory. He is too definite and decisive to belong to the mystic school of letters; too impetuous and impulsive to cling to the classical; too lib

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