I have told the bishop that, instead of doing me a service, the expense of this place will be the ruin of me; and I am most truly sorry that I was so great a fool as to come to it without having first seen it; and well for me had it been at the bottom of the sea before I ever arrived at it." And yet Mr Gale's living in Yorkshire was only £150 a-year, while the Swanage rectory amounted to £600.

Applications for teachers trained on the Madras System, came in almost daily-from London, Twickenham, Plymouth, and many other places. As early as 1805, Dr Bell had recommended the establishment of a Board of Education for the whole country; and in 1808 he published a 'Sketch of a National Institution for Training up the Children of the Poor in Moral and Religious Principles, and in Habits of Useful Industry.' And this was the beginning of the present National Society, which is still strong and prosperous.

The clergy of the diocese of Durham formed themselves in 1811 into "A Society for the Education of the Children of the Poor, according to the System invented by Dr Bell;" and another society of the same kind was founded in Devonshire by Sir Thomas Acland. The formation of this Devonshire society was much quickened by the expressed intention of Mr Lancaster "to visit this county in October;" by a report that he came "with royal authority;" and by his statement that "he will teach the people of Devonshire a lesson that will surprise them, and such as they have not been used to."

. The System had been also adopted in the Preparatory.

School of Christ's Hospital at Hertford; and Mr Davis, on visiting it, tells Dr Bell that "I and my wife were delighted almost to tears. An intelligent, well-disposed, unobtrusive master-able, active, diligent, correct, cheerful teachers happy boys, all employed-the hum of industry-marked books-registers beautifully keptreading and ciphering after your own heart,-all bespoke the carefulness and attention which had been paid to the directions given." And their success seems to have fired Dr Bell with the ambition of applying the Madras System to classical education.

In the autumn of 1811, the controversy between the partisans of Bell and Lancaster broke out again, and with increased virulence. Lord Radstock, an admirer of Dr Bell's, sent to the 'Morning Post' an "extraordinary rhapsody," to which he gave the title of "The Sleepers Awakened: a Vision." In this paper, the writer dreams that he saw "the whole bench of bishops dressed in their robes, their mitres on their heads, and all of them seemingly in a most profound sleep." Then there appeared "a chubby-faced little man, in an entire drab-coloured suit and a broad-brimmed hat," who " exclaimed in a slow and sonorous tone of voice-'Ye slothful and mouldering puny dignitaries, have ye not slumbered your fill?'" The bishops were frightened; and "the whole of them rushed out of the hall together, in no less apparent agony than with precipitation." The chubby-faced little man had "dashed a scroll to the floor," and on the scroll was written "Joseph Lancaster, the inventor of the Lancasterian System." Then Lord Radstock, feeling "a gentle tap on the shoulder,"

turned and saw "a lovely youth standing by my side, clad in white, and of heavenly mien." (The lovely youth was Dr Bell, who had a heavy, fleshy, fiery-red face, was fifty-eight, and, as he himself said, "a bad life.") The youth "spoke as follows: Be of good cheer, thou friend to the Established Church, and fear not.' The editor of the 'Morning Post' appended the following note to the end of the paper: "The above subject being of considerable importance to the public, it is scarcely necessary for us to state that we shall leave our columns open to the free and liberal discussion of it."

The lists were now ready, and the challenge had been sounded. Mr Lancaster at once thought it necessary to address a series of letters to the "British Public," in which he changed his attitude, became the attacking party, drew his sword, and threw away the scabbard. It was a pity. For whereas Lancaster had before thought only of his children, his work, and the wants of the country, he now descended into an arena of personalities, where the line of another man's consciousness is constantly crossed, and where motives and meannesses are lavishly and loudly imputed. He said that the King had sent for him; "unsolicited and unexpectedly," had honoured him with his name and patronage; and that then, and only then, "Dr Bell was dragged out of his retirement to claim a plan, the merit of which I assert is not his." He accuses the reverend Doctor of having for years kept "the benefit of his boasted system even from the children of his own parish; and adds that, had it not been "for the glitter

and sound of the royal patronage," he would never have left his solitude or his occupation "of planting cabbages." He taunts Dr Bell with being an advocate for "the universal limitation of knowledge," and quotes from one of Dr Bell's pamphlets the fatal words-" The children of the poor should not even be taught to write or to cipher." Professor Marsh, who had the misfortune to preach a sermon in St Paul's to seven thousand charity children, in which he attacked Lancaster, joined in the controversy. The controversy quickly rose into higher regions; and, as was to be expected, the Edinburgh Review' took the side of Mr. Lancaster, while Southey in the 'Quarterly' appeared as an ally of Dr Bell.

CHAPTER X.

PROGRESS.

THE friends of Dr Bell and the Madras System were desirous of establishing a "National Institution" which should extend the benefits of the new ideas to all parts of the three kingdoms. They were also bent upon establishing-what was a very minor matter, about which not a soul cares a straw nowadays-" the priority of Dr Bell's claim." One of the very first discussions which arose at the preliminary meetings was, whether it was advisable to convert the present schoolmasters to Dr Bell's ideas, or to create a new set of teachers by founding a seminary for training them. A third course suggested was "to have one school in perfect order in the metropolis, where masters may be trained, and to which they may be referred." In the course of time, it was resolved to found a society, "to be called the Metropolitan Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church, according to the System invented and practised by the Rev. Dr Bell." Part of the plan of the society was also "to show the danger of Lancaster's proceedings."

But Mr Bouger, one of the most powerful prota