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being a member of the Institût of France, and which have brought, as I first said, Messrs. Lamartine, and Thiers, and Arago, into the Chamber of Deputies.

If England could join to her talent for detail, to her power of perfecting and polishing the discoveries of others, to her sound and sterling sense-if she could join to the positive qualities which the practice of daily activity gives-the comprehension, the invention, the elevation, which the study of vague and beautiful things inspires-more industrious than the states of Rome--more steady and resolute of spirit than the states of Greece--she would transmit to posterity a fame which antiquity has not left behind it. To entitle her to this fame, and to the riches, and to the honour, and to the moral greatness which would accompany this fame-to make her mistress of the arts, and to keep her mistress of the seas-to spread with her wealth and her manufactures the love of the beautiful and the study of the sublime; to make commerce a carrier to science, and to impress on a riband, which shall traverse the world, the triumphs of modern industry, and the aspirations of olden times;-here is an object well worthy of a statesman--an object difficult, but not impossible io attain--an object the most noble, the most glorious, the most useful, that a British statesman ever yet pursued..

But, reader, when you are shown the child of the operative walking about the fields and gathering and arranging flowers to improve the manufactures of Lyons--you must at the same time see (for one circumstance is connected with the other) what every successive government has done for men of letters and science in France.

The following are among the names of persons who, during the empire, the restoration, and since the revolution, have received the rewards and honours of the state on account of their literary and scientific attainments.*

* In this list the members of the four classes of the Institût are not included, though all, as members of this institution, receive incomes, the smallest of which is 1,500 francs, the largest 12,000 francs per annum.

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To this list add the names of those persons whose literary talent raised them to the high ranks of the empire!—Among the senators were:

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For the number of libraries, and for the number of books which these libraries contain, relative to the population in the different departments of France (the department of the Seine excepted), I refer the reader to the Appendix; but as the provinces are far behind the capital, it is worth while remarking, that in Paris the public has three volumes to every two individuals. i. e. there are 1,378,000 volumes.

774,000 individuals.

For the number of works published in literature, the arts, and on science, I also refer my reader to the Appendix, where he will find a statement of the numbers of societies founded by the state, or by individuals, for the advancement of different branches of knowledge among different classes of society.

Among these I would here, however, mention

"Ecole royale gratuite de Mathématique et de Dessin en faveur des Arts Mécaniques," where five hundred children, the children of artisans, receive instruction gratis. Observe, that this school was founded in 1760, and authorized by the letters patent of Louis XV.

"Ecole royale et gratuite de Dessin de jeunes personnes," where drawing in its various branches is taught for the same purpose.

The School of St. Peter, at Lyons-and for an account of which I refer to Dr. Bowring's evidence on the Silk Committee, which I have alluded to, and which I may give in the Appendix-and Les Ecoles royales des Arts et Métiers; the one at Châlons (Morne), the other at Angers, Maine-et-Loire. Here, the boys going at fourteen

or seventeen years of age, stay three years, and study every thing which can conduce to their understanding or practising their profession with skill and intelligence. They are not only taught the principles of science that would be applicable to their craft, they are made to apply those principles. They work in the carpenter's shop, at the forge, they handle the hammer and the file, and every pains is taken to make them at once clever men and good mechanics. In order to confine

these institutions strictly to persons connected with industry, none by a late rule are allowed to enter them who have not served for one year as apprentice to a trade.

Some of the children are apprentices to fathers, who can afford to pay five hundred francs per year, the ordinary sum which those not admitted gratuitously pay; but there are one hundred and fifty who pay only half of this; one hundred and fifty who only pay three quarters; one hundred and fifty who pay nothing: besides, as prizes are distributed to those boys who distinguish themselves, many, who enter at two hundred and fifty francs per annum, gain their pension before the time is expired.* It only remains for me to observe, that so entirely does the government abstain from any improper influence in the patronage of these schools, those who are sent at a less rate than the five hundred francs, i. e. for two hundred and fifty francs, or for three hundred and seventy-five francs, or for nothing, are named on an examination by a jury of the different departments.

It is impossible to calculate the advantages of these establishments, since such advantages are not to be estimated by the number of persons who receive instruction, but by the extension which, through them, that instruction receives, and by the emulation which, through them, that instruction excites. It is by the union of practice and theory, of science and its application; it is by the école polytechnique in one class,

* On quitting these schools, the pupils are placed out advantageously, according to their profession and their proficiency in it.

and these institutions in another; it is by these two fountains which, starting from two different sources, meet and blend in the great stream of social civilization, that the French are now extending the advantages of literary influence, and at the same time correcting the defects it was likely to engender. But if I have an opportunity of speaking more fully of industry and education, then will be the time to pursue the discussion of these matters-it pleases me now to turn back from the artisan and the workshop to the fine lady and the salon, and to show the same spirit presiding over the

two extremes.

As the literary man is honoured in the state, so is he honoured in society. At Madame D- -'s, at Madame de M's, at Madame de R's, you meet all the literary men who belong to all the different political opinions. Indeed, wherever you go, be sure that the person particularly noticed, if not a remarkable officer-is a remarkable writer.

This is the case in France, where we are met on the one hand by the evidence of Dr. Bowring-on the other by the list of pensions, donations, and appointments that I have submitted to the reader. This is the case in France, where the advancement of men of letters seems to go hand in hand with the advance and progress of manufactures. But in Englandwhere men of letters are least esteemed, and yet where industry ought to be most encouraged-what is the case in England and in the society of England?

A literary Frenchman whom I met not long ago in Paris, said to me, that a good-natured young English nobleman, whom I will not name, had told him that dancers, and singers, &c. were perfectly well received in English society, but not men of letters.

"Est-il possible qu'on soit si barbare chez vous ?" said the French gentleman to me. I think the young nobleman, to whom the persons pursuing literature in England must be very much obliged, rather exaggerated. I do not think the door is actually bolted upon you directly you are found out to write-but I think it is

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