10 THE SCHOOLS OF THE LAST CENTURY. with my boys at home;'1 and on another: We have so numerous a family, and they make me so principal a playfellow amongst them, that it is with some difficulty I can stipulate for half an hour to write a few lines to my dear friend.'2 These holidays, whether of winter or summer, were as much a period of enjoyment to the father as to the children; and we have this description in July 1778: "We sally forth, half-a-dozen of us, by six or seven o'clock in the morning, and return to breakfast with appetites scarcely to be satisfied. Then we are very busy in our hay, and have just made a new garden. Sometimes we try experiments, then read and draw a little, that altogether we are very busy folks, and the holidays will be over much sooner than we could wish them to be.'3 In 1779 his third son, Thomas, was also placed under Mr. Holland's care; but the schools of that period, even when conducted by comparatively enlightened men, were little calculated to produce the end in view-well-stored minds and well-nourished bodies. In both respects private schools fell short of even public ones. Boys were kept in strict confinement day after day. They droned over-what was necessarily incomprehensible to children-the grammatical figments of illtaught Latin and Greek; the elements of arithmetic and mathematics were offered in the same repulsive form. Any knowledge of history was rarely given, and lessons in geography were of the most elementary character. No wonder, therefore, that the parrot-like knowledge thus imparted did more to dull the intellect than to brighten and fertilise it; and when to this were added 1 Wedgwood to Bentley, November 19, 1778. 3 Ibid. July 1778. او physical coercion and restraint, and too often bad and scanty food, we can judge how ill the schools of the period effected their legitimate purpose of mental and physical culture. Wedgwood, whose robust intellect and strong common sense made him readily aware of existing evils, even if he occasionally failed to see their true remedies, came, at no distant date, to the conclusion that his eldest boy, at least, required some fresh intellectual stimulus, and a change from the monotony of school life. He therefore induced Mr. Warltire, an able chemist residing in Birmingham, to come over to Newcastle and give a short series of lectures on chemical subjects, and combine, with these private lessons to young John Wedgwood, as also to one of Dr. Darwin's sons, who was specially invited to Etruria for the occasion. At this period Dr. Erasmus Darwin resided at Lichfield, and Etruria being within easy reach, permitted a ready exchange of visits to both families. The Christmas and Midsummer holidays rarely went by without two at least of Dr. Darwin's three sons sharing in the festive doings at Etruria. In January 1775, Wedgwood tells Bentley: 'I have two of Dr. Darwin's sons come to stay some days with me ;' and in the next letter he adds : I have a score of young folks to make merry with.' The following Midsummer the young Darwins were again at Etruria to share in the great event of the arrival of Bentley's present-a roomy playhouse, easily put up or taken down on the lawn there. But the time was now come when the boys were to meet for graver purposes than mere childish pastimes. Dr. Darwin had lost his son Charles, a most promising youth, in May 1778, while pursuing his medical studies 12 WARLTIRE'S CHEMICAL LECTURES. in Edinburgh; and though in this, as in other instances, he affected stoicism, it was with ill success. Whether his plans in relation to the future profession of his youngest son, Robert Waring Darwin, were in any way affected by this event is unknown, but a few months later we find Robert Darwin styled the 'young doctor,' and as such invited over to Etruria to share with young John Wedgwood Warltire's private lessons in chemistry. "I have sent for Jack from Bolton,' wrote Wedgwood February, 17, 1779 to Bentley, and Master Darwin (Robert) is to meet him here;' and a few days later he adds: ' Mr. Warltire opened his lecture on Tuesday with a subscription of about thirty guineas, and I think he will have more. Dr. Darwin has sent his son Robert to attend the course, and my Jack and this young Doct", is to be, have both taken the infection very kindly. They both attend Mr. Warltire every morning for private instruction, which is of much greater consequence to them than the public lectures. I, too, am a lecturer in my turn, and have the place of secretary to their private experiments.'1 The lectures were in progress through March, for on the 7th of the month Wedgwood wrote: "I want nothing, my dear friend, just now, but a little more time, and in that article we find ourselves greatly limited, though we husband what little portion is allowed us with tolerable economy; rising before the sun, often before daylight, and pursue our experiments till supper calls us away, and sometimes after; and yet all is too little, much too little, for the business before us. The boys drink in knowledge like water, with great avidity, and quite to my satisfaction. Jack is very deep in chemical affinities, and I have no fear of his making a tolerable progress in the science, 1 Wedgwood to Bentley, February 25, 1779. MACHINE-BREAKING MOBS. 13 for it is much pleasanter to him than grammar. I have some fears of the latter being neglected for this new study.' During the progress of these lectures Wedgwood added lessons in geography, and, with due explanations, led the boys through the cabinet of fossils he was then procuring and arranging.1 Later in the year we find Wedgwood's sons still at Bolton. Early in October Josiah, the second boy, then ten years old, was taken ill, and his parents were hastily summoned into Lancashire. During their journey to and fro they encountered mobs of machine-breakers, and the descriptions given by Wedgwood form historical pictures worth preserving: 'I wrote to my dear friend last from Bishton, and being uncertain whether this will be in time to find you at Turnham Green, I shall make it a very short one, just acquainting you with the occasion of my being here, and the disagreeable situation of the manufacturers and other peaceable inhabitants in this place (Bolton). In our way to this place, a little on this side Chowbent, we met several hundred people in the road. I believe there might be about five hundred; and upon enquiring of one of them the occasion of their being together in so great a number, he told me they had been destroying some engines, and meant to serve them all so through the country. Accordingly they have advice here to-day that they must expect a visit tomorrow; the workmen in the neighbourhood having muster'd up a considerable number of arms, and are casting bullets and providing ammunition to-day for the assault to-morrow morning. Sir Richard Clayton brought this account here to-day, and, I believe, is in the town 1 Bills of a later date show that Wedgwood was regularly supplied with fossils by a firm in Derby. 14 FURY AND IGNORANCE OF THE PEOPLE. now, advising with the inhabitants upon the best means for their safety; and I believe they have concluded to send immediately to Liverpool for a part of the troops quarter'd there. Many of the workmen having been turn'd off lately, owing to a want of demand for their goods at foreign markets, has furnish'd them with an excuse for these violent measures. The manufacturers say the measures which the Irish have adopted in their non-importation agreements have affected their trade very much. These are melancholy facts, upon which I forbear to comment. They do not stand in need of much illustration, but we must pray for better times.'1 The next day Wedgwood continues his account: 'I wrote to my dear friend last from Bolton, and I mention'd the mob which had assembled in that neighbourhood; but they had not then done much mischief; they only destroyed a small engine or two near Chowbent. We met them on Saturday morning, but I apprehend what we saw were not the main body; for on the same day, in the afternoon, a capital engine or mill, in the manner of Arcrites, and in which he is a partner, near Chorley, was attacked; but from its peculiar situation they could approach to it by one passage only ; and this circumstance enabled the owner, with the assistance of a few neighbours, to repulse the enemy and preserve the mill for that time. Two of the mob were shot dead upon the spot, one drowned, and several wounded. The mob had no fire-arms, and did not expect so warm a reception. They were greatly exasperated, and vowed revenge; accordingly they spent all Sunday and Monday morning in collecting fire-arms and ammunition and melting their pewter dishes into |