The second point to which I shall advert is that where it is said that
such and such things shall be taught '_for the better advancement and
preferment of the said youth_.' This purpose is as honourable as it is
natural, and recalls to remembrance the time when the northern counties
had, in this particular, great advantages over the rest of England. By
the zealous care of many pious and good men, among whom I cannot but
name (from his connection with this neighbourhood, and the benefits he
conferred upon it) Archbishop Sandys, free schools were founded in these
parts of the kingdom in much greater numbers than elsewhere. The learned
professions derived many ornaments from this source; but a more
remarkable consequence was that till within the last 40 years or so,
merchants' counting-houses, and offices, in the lower departments of
which a certain degree of scholastic attainment was requisite, were
supplied in a great measure from Cumberland and Westmoreland. Numerous
and large fortunes were the result of the skill, industry, and
integrity, which the young men thus instructed, carried with them to the
Metropolis. That superiority no longer exists; not so much, I trust,
from a slackening on the part of the teachers, or an indisposition of
the inhabitants to profit by their free schools, but because the kingdom
at large has become sensible of the advantages of school instruction;
and we of the north consequently have competitors from every quarter.
Let not this discourage, but rather stimulate us to more strenuous
endeavours, so that if we do not keep a-head of the rest of our
countrymen, we may at least take care not to be left behind in the race
of honourable ambition. But after all, worldly advancement and
preferment neither are, nor ought to be the _main_ end of instruction,
either in schools or elsewhere, and particularly in those which are in
rural places, and scantily endowed. It is in the order of Providence, as
we are all aware, that _most_ men must end their temporal course pretty
much as they began it; nor will the thoughtful repine at this
dispensation. In lands where nature in the many is not trampled upon by
injustice, feelingly may the peasant say to the courtier--

The sun that bids your diamond blaze
To deck our lily deigns.

Contentment, according to the common adage, is better than riches; and
why is it better? Not merely because there can be no happiness without
it, but for the sake, also, of