[Sidenote: French Lay Teachers wanting in Authority.] [Sidenote: One Good Effect of Lay Education.] Now, as a matter of simple fact, it must be admitted that the moral authority of French lay teachers is inadequate. They have not the power of the priests, nor even of the English clergy. And the consequence is that a new generation of Frenchmen is growing up under insufficient moral control. I make no attempt to disguise the evil, but cannot see how it was to have been avoided. It is an evil which lies before every country in Europe as the authority of religion becomes relaxed. Meanwhile, lay education, if not morally so strong as one might desire, is at least producing a generation of young men who are frank and fearless, and have an unaffected contempt for sneaks and hypocrites of all kinds. [Sidenote: Dr. Arnold.] What is wanted is a class of lay principals with something like the moral authority of Dr. Arnold; but would Dr. Arnold have possessed that authority, or anything approaching to it, if he had been a layman? [Sidenote: A French Principal.] I myself have known very intimately and for many years a French principal who would have delighted in exercising Arnold’s power for good if he had possessed it, but he was a layman only, and did not possess it. [Sidenote: Sacerdotal Authority in Family Life.] In family life there may be a kind of sacerdotal authority in the head of the household when he exercises a sacerdotal function, when he compels his household to join him in family prayer and to listen respectfully whilst he reads and expounds the sacred books. The father assumes in that manner a moral authority that is not easily assumed in any other way. [Sidenote: Clerical Jealousy of Family Influence.] [Sidenote: Value of Home Influence.] [Sidenote: Manners acquired in the Seminaries.]