379 HIST HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF Adult Schools : WITH An Account of some of the beneficial Effects already produced ON THE Moral Character of the Labouring Poor; ALSO, ON THE IMPORTANT ADVANTAGES THEY ARE LIKELY TO WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING Rules for the Government of Adult School Societies, and BY THOMAS POLE, M. D. Member of the Committee of the Bristol Society for Instructing the BRISTOL: PRINTED for the author, C. M' DOWALL, CHRISTMAS-STREET, AND W. BROWNE, ALSO BY DARTON AND HARVEY, GRACECHURCH-STREET, Entered at Stationers'-Hall. 1814. of unforeseen circumstances, principally arising from the delay of persons in distant places, on whom he was dependent for information respecting certain parts of the publication; this, he hopes, will not be materially detrimental to the cause he ardently wishes to promote. Previously to any part of this History's going to the press, the Author did not calculate upon its extending beyond sixty or seventy pages; under that idea, he fixed the price at two shillings; but the accession of new matter has so increased its size and expence, that he considers himself justified in advancing it to two shillings and sixpence; whilst he holds himself bound to fulfil his engagement to the Subscribers, by supplying them upon the terms advertized. Agreeably to what was intimated in the Prospectus, the whole of the clear profits arising from this publication, are to be applied to the promotion of education amongst the poor. It was originally intended not to print more than one thousand copies; but the Author has been induced, by the persuasions of his friends and the unexpected influx of subscriptions, to extend the edition to two thousand, the far greater part of which has been subscribed for before the printing was completed; for which the Author takes this opportunity of publicly expressing his grateful acknowledgments. JAMES'-SQUARE, BRISTOL, Srd Mo. 5th, 1814. T. P. THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS, &c. &c. BENEVOLENT individuals, of preceding generations, have exerted themselves for the education of youth; but that these exertions have been inefficient or too limited, is proved by the great proportion of the labouring poor, arrived to years of maturity, who have suffered, and are still suffering inexpressible loss, in respect to their mental concerns, from the lamentable ignorance which still prevails amongst them. To a consciousness of this, the educated part of society have been so long familiarized, that, till of late years,' even those who felt and cherished a friendly interest in their present and future happiness, have never sought the means of their deliverance from the shades of darkness in which they have been immured from childhood to their latest periods. Lamentably, indeed, did our forefathers neglect this important duty towards their indigent fellow-creatures; but expressions of regret will be unavailing. To discover a remedy for this great evil has fallen to the lot of certain individuals, the application of whose talents and industry merits an honourable record in the history of the country, for the benefit of which they have been employed in removing from the public mind a long fixed, but erroneous opinion, that persons of mature age were not capable of receiving instruction in the knowledge of letters, or that they could not devote a sufficient portion of their time to acquire a qualification to read. The removal of this. B injurious apprehension is unquestionably of high importance, not only to the poor, but to society at large. Some individuals of mature age, we are well aware, have been, from time immemorial, introduced into schools established for the education of children; and have acquired that portion of knowledge which has been essentially serviceable to them through the remainder of life. A few years since, it would have been deemed a whimsical and chimerical project to have collected a school of persons from twenty to eighty years of age, under the expectation of being able to teach them to read; and the man who should have undertaken to effect this object, would have subjected himself to the ridicule of his neighbours; but happy will it be for tens of thousands, I trust I may say, that there are men whose benevolence has induced thera to disregard the sneers of the scornful and incredulous, and make that experiment which has been crowned with success far exceeding their most sanguine expectations, and opened a most cheering prospect to our view, in the animating contemplation of the moral and religious benefits capable of resulting from it. It has been generally believed that the first schools, for the education of adults exclusively, were opened in Bristol; and that not without reason, as it was perfectly unknown to the Founder of the Bristol Schools, that such had existed elsewhere. This, indeed, has been the generally received opinion for two years past; but we must now yield the palm to Cambrian philanthropy. From information recently received from very respectable authority, it appears that the first Adult Schools were established in North Wales. In a letter from B. Morgans, Vicar of Trelech, near Monniouth, dated March 14, 1754, is the following certificate:"This is to certify, that I. T. kept a Welsh Charity School, in my parish, for three months past, with great success. The scholars in all were about one hundred; several of them, before the expiration of the quarter, could spell and read pretty well; though they knew not the letters before. In a short time after the school was opened, I went to visit it, and was agreeably surprised to see there an old man, seventy-one years of age, with five other people far advanced in years, who came there with their little children to be taught to read the word of God. Some of them were beginning their A, B, C; others could read a little. I examined the scholars several times. Some of their parents, when we had done, came to me with tears in their eyes, deeply concerned for their own ignorance, and with visible joy for the improvement of their little children. They said, their children used to ask them questions, when they came from school, which they could not answer till their children taught them." It is proved that the first school exclusively for the instruction for adults, was opened in North Wales, by the benevolent efforts of Thomas Charles, A. B. Episcopal Minister of Bala, Merionethshire; this commenced " in the summer of 1811."-He observes, "We had no particular school for their instruction-exclusively till then, though many attended the Sunday Schools with the children, in different parts of the country previous to that time. What induced me first to think of establishing such an Institution, was the aversion I found in the adults to associate with the children in their schools."-This truly philanthropic man, by way of experiment, established one exclusively for adults; and he says, "the first attempt succeeded wonderfully, and far beyond my most sanguine expectation, and still continues in a prosperous state. The report of the success of this school soon spread over the country, and, in many places, the illiterate adults began to call for instruction. In one county, after a public address had been delivered to them on that subject, the adult poor, even the aged, flocked to the Sunday Schools in crowds; and the shopkeepers could not immediately supply them with an adequate number of spectacles. Our schools, in general, are kept in our chapels; in some districts, where there are no chapels, farmers, in the summer-time, lend their barns. The adults and children are sometimes in the same room, but placed in different parts of it. When their attention is gained and fixed, they soon learn; their age makes no great difference, if they are able, by the help of glasses, to see the letters. As the adults have no time to lose, we endeavour (before they can read) to instruct them without delay in the first principles of Christianity. We select a short portion of Scripture, comprising in plain terms the leading doctrines, and repeat them to the learners till they can |