22 about 457 the kingdom of Kent was founded. The Britons still fought stubbornly, but were gradually driven westward, and by the year 584 the kingdom of Mercia (meaning the march land or frontier State) was established, being the last of the seven kingdoms founded by the invaders, whence the whole is usually styled the Heptarchy. The kings of the Heptarchy made war on each other, but at last in 827 Egbert of Wessex obtained the supremacy of the whole, and styled himself King of England. His descendants, of whom Alfred the Great was the most illustrious, held the throne for more than 200 years, but the country suffered greatly during the time from the ravages of the Danes, who, under Canute and his sons, became its rulers for twenty-five years (1017-1042). The Saxon line was restored in the person of Edward the Confessor, to whom Harold succeeded; but his death in the battle of Hastings, on the 14th of October, 1066, gave England into the hands of the Norman kings, who reigned from 1066 to 1154. Then came the Plantagenets (1154-1485); the Tudors (1485-1603); and the Stuarts (1603-1714), to whom the House of Brunswick succeeded on the death of Queen Anne. Her present Majesty is the sixth sovereign of that line. The conquest of Ireland was begun in the year 1170, but can hardly be regarded as completed until the surrender of Limerick in 1691. Wales was conquered by Edward I. in 1282, and formally annexed to England by Henry VIII. in 1536. Scotland successfully resisted the efforts of Edward I. to subjugate it, maintained for ages a close alliance with France, and in 1603, gave a ruler to England in the person of James VI., who became James I. of Great Britain, a title then first assumed. This was but a personal union, but the union of the kingdoms was effected under Queen Anne in 1707. Ireland, which had been hitherto only styled a lordship, was declared a kingdom in 1542, and this kingdom was united to that of Great Britain by the Act of Union, on January 1, 1801. The form of government is a limited monarchy, consisting of the Sovereign and the Houses of Lords and Commons, without whose joint approval no legislation is complete, though a large discretion is left to the executive, and for the proper exercise of this discretion the Ministers of the crown are responsible, as it is a legal maxim, that "the Sovereign can do no wrong." For administrative purposes, England is divided into forty counties, Wales into twelve, Scotland thirty-three, and Ireland thirty-two. To each of these counties there is, with some few exceptions, a lord-lieutenant and a. sheriff, and a number of justices of the peace, beside stipendiary magistrates in London and other large cities. The policy of the English Government, down to a very recent period, has been to leave the promotion of Science and Art, even in their obvious connections with national industries-the mining, commercial, manufacturing, and mechanical productions of the people,-to individual and associated effort. Within the last half century, and more rapidly and thoroughly within the last twenty years, this policy has undergone great changes, until there is not a government in the world which appropriates such large sums annually for the advancement of Education, Science, and Art. We give a list of annual appropriations from the public treasury for these purposes, mostly for 1869. I. ELEMENTARY EDUCATION. 1. England and Scotland-through Committee of Council.- (2.) Inspection (68 Inspectors)-Salaries and Travel,. 66 66 46 66 £22,531 64,103 74,250 79,500 England and Wales,.. 549,639 45,500 .£835,523 17,412 35,461 8,245 5,828 26,952 360,194 £454,092 .£1,289,615 Total through National Board for Ireland, . Total for Elementary Instruction in Great Britain,. II. HIGHER EDUCATION. The principal expenditures for Institutions of Secondary Education in Great Britain, Scotland, and Ireland, are met by endowments (the annual income of which is about £1,000,000) and parental payments. The 8 great Universities of England, Scotland, and Ireland, have endow ments to the annual value of over £700,000. To aid Universities and Colleges of Superior Instruction, Parliament made grants in 1869 as follows: 2. Schools of Science and Art-Central and Provincial,. 6. Schools of Mines and Chemistry, and Geological Museum,.. 12,253 Royal Institution, and Board of Manufactures, Edinburgh,. 5. Art Ornamentation of Parliament Houses,... 6. Annuities, &c., on former Donations and Bequests,. Total,.. £1,000 10,000 500 1,500 500 1,784 890 1,520 19,778 66,000 4,414 .200,000 £307,886 .£99,380 15,992 1,800 2,740 4,500 •10,000 5,000 £139,422 VI. MILITARY AND NAVAL SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION-1868-9. Navigation Schools (exclusive of Science Department aid),. 2,000 These objects, numerous and important as they are, do not exhaust the list of Parliamentary appropriations for Education, Science and Art in 1869, but the sums, large in single instances, exceed in the aggregate (£2,500,000) those made by any other government for the same period. It only needs a more systematic administration of the public grants, to stimulate and direct wisely local, institutional, and individual activity, and supplement their deficiencies by doing well what individuals, associations, or local communities can not do thoroughly, if at all-to bring the Special as well as the General Instruction of the whole country on to a higher plane than they now occupy in any other State. SPECIAL INSTRUCTION IN GREAT BRITAIN. I. INDIVIDUAL PROMOTERS OF REALISTIC INSTRUCTION. Under the Church system of education, which supplanted the barbarism of an earlier period, and which prevailed throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland, as well as in Europe generally, all institutions, endowments and methods were designed to foster instruction in language, and those speculative studies which were found particularly useful in ecclesiastical affairs. But English literature is not without occasional witnesses to the defective arrangements then existing, and appeals and suggestions for other institutions and instruction. SIR THOMAS ELYOT. SIR THOMAS ELYOT, in "The Governor,"* first published in 1544, which was designed to instruct men, and especially men of noble birth, in good morals, and in the ways of usefulness, recommends that young gentlemen be brought up "to draw, paint, and carve," and put to frequent practice "with poises made of lead," lifting or throwing the heavy stone or bar, in wrestling, running, swimming, riding, dancing, and shooting with the long bow. In addition to these recreations, he praises the industry of the king of Prussia, "who in a time vacant from the affairs of his realm, planted innumerable trees, which long before he died brought forth abundance of fruit." FRANCIS LORD BACON. Francis Bacon (born in 1561 and died in 1626) was the earliest and ablest champion of a broad educational policy, both in opening up the whole field of science for better culture, and in founding new places of learning, and holding out stronger inducements for ingenious minds to devote themselves to natural science. In the preface to the Second Book on the Dignity and Advancement of Learning, addressed to the king, and written in 1605, he thus speaks of the deficiencies in the provisions for higher culture in his day, and the necessity of new schools dedicated to the study of the Arts and Sciences at large, as well as professorships, laboratories, and other facilities of experiment and practice. First, therefore, among so many noble foundations of colleges in Europe, I find it strange that they are all dedicated to professions, and none left free to the study of arts and sciences at large. For if men judge that learning should be referred to use and action, they judge well; but it is easy in this to fall into the error pointed at in the ancient fable; in which the other parts of the body found fault with the stomach, because it neither performed the office of motion as the limbs do, nor of sense, as the head does; but yet, notwithstanding, it is the stomach which digests and distributes the aliment to all the rest. So if any man think that Philosophy and Universality are idle and unprofitable studies, he does not consider that all arts and professions are from thence supplied with sap and strength. And this I take to be a great cause, which has so long hindered the more flourishing progress of learning; because these fundamental knowledges have been studied but in passage, and not drunk deeper *For copious extracts, see Barnard's American Journal of Education, vol. xvi. 483–496, of. For if you will have a tree bear more fruit than it has used to do, it is not any thing you can do to the boughs, but it is the stirring of the earth, and putting richer mould about the roots, that must work it. Neither is it to be forgotten that this dedication of colleges and societies to the use only of professory learning has not only been inimical to the growth of the sciences, but has also been prejudicial to states and governments. For hence it proceeds that princes when they have to choose men for business of state, find a wonderful dearth of able men around them; because there is no collegiate education designed for these purposes, where men naturally so disposed and affected might (besides other arts) give themselves especially to histories, modern languages, books of policy and civil discourse; whereby they might come better prepared and instructed to offices of state. And because founders of Colleges do plant, and founders of Lectures do water, I must next speak of the deficiencies which I find in public lectures; wherein I especially disapprove of the smallness of the salary assigned to lecturers in arts and professions, particularly amongst ourselves. For it is very necessary to the progression of sciences that lecturers in every sort be of the most able and sufficient men; as those who are ordained not for transitory use, but for keeping up the race and succession of knowledge from age to age. This can not be, except their condition and endowment be such that the most eminent professors may be well contented and willing to spend their whole life in that function and attendance, without caring for practice. And therefore if you will have sciences flourish, you must observe David's military law; which was, "That those who stayed with the baggage should have equal part with those who were in the action;" else will the baggage be ill attended. So lecturers in sciences are as it were the keepers and guardians of the whole store and provision of learning, whence the active and militant part of the sciences is furnished; and therefore they ought to have equal entertainment and profit with the men of active life. Certain it is that for depth of speculation no less than for fruit of operation in some sciences (especially natural philosophy and physic) other helps are required besides books. Wherein also the beneficence of men has not been altogether wanting; for we see spheres, globes, astrolabes, maps, and the like, have been provided and prepared as assistants to astronomy and cosmography, as well as books. We see likewise that some places instituted for physic have gardens for the examination and knowledge of simples of all sorts, and are not without the use of dead bodies for anatomical observations. But these respect but a few things. In general, it may be held for certain that there will hardly be any great progress in the unraveling and unlocking of the secrets of nature, except there be a full allowance for expenses about experiments; whether they be experiments appertaining to Vulcan or Dædalus (that is, the furnace or engine), or any other kind. And therefore as secretaries and emissaries of princes are allowed to bring in bills of expenses for their diligence in exploring and unraveling plots and civil secrets, so the searchers and spies of nature must have their expenses paid, or else you will never be well informed of a great number of things most worthy to be known. For if Alexander made such a liberal assignation of money to Aristotle, to support hunters, fowlers, fishers and the like, that he might be better furnished for compiling a History of Animals; certainly much more do they deserve it, who, instead of wandering in the forests of nature, make their way through the labyrinths of arts. Bacon also advises an examination of the studies in existing Universities and Schools, in reference to leaving out some that are obsolete, and introducing others which are fresh and useful, and a reorganization generally to adapt the studies better to the natural order of development of the human faculties, and the future uses of life. He also suggests that the different Universities, or schools of learning, should be brought "into a noble and generous brotherhood;" that a more careful and accurate survey of the sciences actually cultivated "as well as of those not yet converted to use by the industry of man," should be made, and that better text-books and better methods of instruction generally should be introduced. In the Sixth Book, "De Augmentis Scien |