The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 5 (of 8)Wordsworth, William
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The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 5 (of 8)
Wordsworth, William
English poetry -- 18th century; English poetry -- 19th century
Reviewing, at this late period, 1843, what I put into the mouths of my
interlocutors a few years after the commencement of the century, I grieve
that so little progress has been made in diminishing the evils deplored,
or promoting the benefits of education which the Wanderer anticipates.
The results of Lord Ashley's labours to defer the time when children
might legally be allowed to work in factories, and his endeavours to
limit still further the hours of permitted labour, have fallen far
short of his own humane wishes, and of those of every benevolent and
right-minded man who has carefully attended to this subject; and in
the present session of Parliament (1843) Sir James Graham's attempt to
establish a course of religious education among the children employed
in factories has been abandoned, in consequence of what might easily be
foreseen, the vehement and turbulent opposition of the Dissenters; so
that for many years to come it may be thought expedient to leave the
religious instruction of children entirely in the hands of the several
denominations of Christians in the Island, each body to work according
to its own means and in its own way. Such is my own confidence, a
confidence I share with many others of my most valued friends, in the
superior advantages, both religious and social, which attend a course
of instruction presided over and guided by the clergy of the Church of
England, that I have no doubt, that if but once its members, lay and
clerical, were duly sensible of those benefits, their Church would
daily gain ground, and rapidly, upon every shape and fashion of Dissent;
and in that case, a great majority in Parliament being sensible of
these benefits, the Ministers of the country might be emboldened, were
it necessary, to apply funds of the State to the support of education
on church principles. Before I conclude, I cannot forbear noticing the
strenuous efforts made at this time in Parliament by so many persons
to extend manufacturing and commercial industry at the expense of
agricultural, though we have recently had abundant proofs that the
apprehensions expressed by the Wanderer were not groundless.
I spake of mischief by the wise diffused,
With gladness thinking that the more it spreads
The healthier, the securer, we become;
Delusion which a moment may destroy!
The Chartists are well aware of this possibility, and cling to it with
an ardour and perseverance which nothing, but wiser and more brotherly
dealing towards the many, on the part of the wealthy few, can moderate or
remove.
While, from the grassy mountain's open side
We gazed, in silence hushed.
The point here fixed upon in my imagination is half way up the northern
side of Loughrigg Fell, from which the Pastor and his companions are
supposed to look upwards to the sky and mountain-tops, and round the
vale, with the lake lying immediately beneath them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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