limited to a certain number, would not the charter have determined how many? The fact is, as I believe is pretty well known, that a charge has always been made by the masters. Whatever it was originally, it was soon raised to one pound per annum, probably in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. What it should be at this time, let calculators on the alteration in the value of money determine. It is true that 201. per annum was added by Archbishop Laud to the salary; and that a house was purchased by subscription, in 1784, previous to which time, whatever became of the original house, the master was obliged to purchase or hire one for himself; but the land tax and ground rent, the poor's rates, the assessed, paving, and all other taxes, which the master is obliged to pay, probably swallow three times the value of the salary. This assertion is not made at random, as I have taken care to advance nothing in this address of which I have not either personal knowledge, or authority on which I can depend. Now, Sir, are you not very considerate, to expect that the corporation shall, at the next vacancy, order that none but natives of the town shall be admitted into the school, and, of course, all free of expense? Is it not very reasonable and equitable that future masters should teach all children born in the town, pay all the taxes of the house, and maintain their

* See Appendix, No. I.

families, upon 301. per annum? How far the corporation may act upon your advice,time must discover. Perhaps, as the Stranger seems to be so well acquainted with the subject, and either is, or has been, at the head of some rival establishment, on proper application, the trustees may have no objection to his appointment; or at least may consent to transfer to him the next nomination, on condition of his paying all the advertisements, till, on those terms, a proper master, or indeed any master, be found to undertake the charge.

It is readily admitted that there are some foundation-schools which are free in another sense than that which has been noticed: that is, the inhabitants have the privilege of sending the native children, or a limited number of them, free of expense, for tuition. But as most of these schools have the salaries of the masters fixed at a certain sum of money, on a rent charge, in consequence of the constant and increasing depreciation in the value of specie, there must of necessity, in many cases, be a deviation from the original intention of the founders. I am not pleading for the neglect or abuse of these excellent and important charities, and much less to make them sinecures. So far from this, I scruple not to assert, that where the intentions of the founders have been counteracted, and masters have paid no regard to their obligations, it is incumbent on the governors to revert to the conditions of the foundation, and to

procure such engagements from the master they appoint, as equity and the change of circumstances require. If there are peculiar privileges for the natives in the Reading seminary, the corporation, as trustees, undoubtedly ought to stipulate for them in the appointment of a master; but admitting this to be a fact, if the master be dealt with in justice, these privileges must have necessarily diminished in exact proportion to the value of the salary when originally fixed, compared with what it is at the present day; except indeed that salary was originally more than an adequate recompense for the labour required. The absurdity of expecting the master of Reading grammar-school to teach all the natives, must appear prima facie to every person who considers the subject for a moment. If this were the case, he would be under an obligation to instruct at least 500 boys in the classics for 30/. a-year

We have lately heard much of the plan of education adopted and recommended by the ingenious and benevolent Joseph Lancaster; but what would a Lancastrian school be in comparison of this? Here would be a doctor of divinity, whom it would be an honour to any classical seminary in Great Britain to have at its head, instructing 500 boys in the Latin and Greek classics, for a salary not amounting to a fourth part of what is generally paid to a schoolmaster for the same number of boys on Lancaster's plan. The master must of course adopt the Lancastrian mode

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of teaching. This, however, would not be found quite so feasible in communicating the knowledge of Latin and Greek, as in teaching to read and spell English, and to write and practise the elements of arithmetic.

I cannot conclude my remarks on this subject without observing, that if the enemies or the friends of the Reading School are desirous of knowing its present state in respect to education, they ought to apply at the two Universities for information. Of the accuracy of your assertion, that natives of the town are not admitted into the school, but obliged to seek their education elsewhere, any person may form a judgment, who will make inquiry in regard to the number of the natives who have been educated under the present master. I have myself the pleasure of being personally acquainted with some who are now in the church, whose abilities and piety are too well known to need any encomium from an individual; and who, I believe, universally speak of their tutor in terms of high respect. I am also informed that there are others in the church, in the law, in physic, in the army and navy, and in trade, whose conduct is an honour not only to the town, but to society in general, to their country, to religion, and to human nature.

The next subjects of your remarks are the Permanent Library and the Literary Institution, the latter of which you condescend to call the

rival and fellow of the former. I should rather
have thought that your comparison of the Library
with the Institution would have reminded you of
Tityrus's comparing his native village with Rome,
and led you to apologize for comparing small
things with great :

Sic canibus catulos similes, sic matribus hodos
Noram: sic parvis componere magna solebam.

The important controversy in relation to the claims of priority of plan and formation between these two establishments, I shall not enter on; but, as an impartial witness, I can assert that, in a public company in which I had the honour of being present, a plan of the Institution was communicated before the Library was formed. It will not be easy to discover, therefore, how the “promising prospect of success" in the latter should occasion the establishment of the former; or how pride, jealousy, or envy, should attempt to stifle in the cradle" a creature which at this time had no existence. But you have made other mistakes in relation to the Institution, as you have on almost all other subjects. Allow me, Sir, to correct them. The sum originally proposed to be raised was 6000/. instead of 30007. as you have stated. This fact totally overthrows all the arguments and calculations of the two pages you have devoted to the information of your readers, as a literary financier. Again, no deviation from the original

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