CONTENTS OF CHAPTER THE NINTH. Charitable Institutions, Public Buildings, &c.-Schools for the education - ! CHAPTER THE NINTH. FEW cities in the kingdom are more distinguished either for the number or the variety of charitable institutions than Bristol. Their number indeed is honourable to the benevolence of the citizens, and their variety reflects some lustre upon the civilization of the age; while both combine to afford evidence of the existence of those generous feelings which prompt to the alleviation of human suffering. The period however has arrived when it is very generally understood, that the wretchedness of poverty can never be annihilated till the poor themselves associate for its extermination. If benevolence would prevent the pains and the sorrows which seem inseparable from indigence, it must follow a new direction, and instead of pro viding for the poor, must enable the poor to provide for themselves. They must be taught to think and to compare, and in many instances to prefer a present inconvenience to the possibility of encountering a future difficulty. The exercise however of this species of self denial, necessarily implies the existence of some degree of mental discipline. Those exertions therefore of the benevolent which have for their object the training of the poor to order, to industry, and to economy, are eminently calculated to exterminate the evils of poverty, and finally to annihilate its wretchedness. okin If these opinions of the means of ameliorating the condition of the human race be founded in truth, the provision which is made for the education of the people must appear a matter of the very first importance. In Bristol several establishments exist, which in the gradations of the objects that they embrace, are intended to promote this most desirable purpose. Among them, that which is entitled to a priority of notice, is the City Gramiority mar School, founded by Robert and Nicholas |