sed, allow me to express a hope
that they will be turned to the best possible account. The privilege of
the school being free, will not, I trust, tempt parents to withdraw
their children from punctual attendance upon slight and trivial
occasions; and they will take care, as far as depends upon themselves,
that the wishes of the present benefactor may be met, and his intentions
fulfilled. Those wishes and intentions I will take upon me to say, are
consonant to what has been expressed in the original trust-deed of the
pious and sensible men already spoken of, who in that instrument declare
that they have provided a fund 'towards the finding and maintenance of
an able schoolmaster, and repairing the school-house from time to time,
for ever; for teaching and instructing of youth within the said hamlets,
in grammar, writing, reading, and other good learning and discipline
meet and convenient for them; for the honour of God, for the better
advancement and preferment of the said youth, and to the perpetual and
thankful remembrance of the founders and authors of so good a work.' The
effect of this beautiful summary upon your minds will not, I hope, be
weakened if I make a brief comment upon the several clauses of it, which
will comprise nearly the whole of what I feel prompted to say upon this
occasion. I will take the liberty, however, of inverting the order in
which the purposes of these good men are mentioned, beginning at what
they end with. '_The perpetual and thankful remembrance of the founders
and authors of so good a work_.' Do not let it be supposed that your
forefathers, when they looked onwards to this issue, did so from vanity
and love of applause, uniting with local attachment; they wished their
good works to be remembered principally because they were conscious that
such remembrance would be beneficial to the hearts of those whom they
desired to serve, and would effectually promote the particular good they
had in view. Let me add _for_ them, what their modesty and humility
would have prevented their insisting upon, that such tribute of grateful
recollection was, and is still, their _due_; for if gratitude be not the
most perfect shape of justice, it is assuredly her most beautiful
crown,--a halo and glory with which she delights to have her brows
encircled. So much of this gratitude as those good men hoped for, I may
bespeak for your neighbour, who is now animated by the same spirit, and
treading in their steps.