more remarkable as he preserved this unwavering belief in revelation at a period when Europe was inundated with infidelity. The sincerity and strength of his convictions may be inferred from the efforts he made to convince an unbeliever of his acquaintance, as described in the following extract.

'I have passed over in silence, my dear sir, all that you are already acquainted with; but I cannot forbear mentioning, that I am also under great obligations to my late esteemed parents, for the cultivation of my religious character. They were both very pious, and Christians, in the full extent of the term, in practice as well as in principle and sentiment. In consequence of their instructions in early life, I have never had any doubts upon the subject of religion. The degree of certainty which accompanied it, was so great, that it appeared to me impossible that an unbeliever could withstand the evidence upon which I grounded my religious belief, when eighteen years old. The unbeliever you spoke of, was fortyeight years of age. He declared that when his mother died, he had seen the complete dissolution of human life, and his relations, distinguished for their religious attainments, had renounced all hope of restoring him to a more cheerful and consoling belief. I was not, however, discouraged; and remained six months in his retreat on the shores of the lake of Zurich, in order to convince him of his error; but I failed to enlighten him as completely as he failed to darken my mind. Many other circunstances contributed to throw light upon the subject of religion, and confirm my belief. It appears to me unnecessary to add anything to this account, which must be succinct to fulfil its aim.'

ART. III. SKETCHES OF THE FELLENBERG INSTITUTION AT HOFWYL, IN A SERIES OF LETTERS TO A FRIEND.*

LETTER I.

Hofwyl, August, 1829. MY DEAR FRIEND-I cannot better introduce you to this celebrated place of education, than by a particular account of the motives and views which actuated its founder.

*This article is republished for the sake of our new subscribers, as well as to correct a few errors connected with it. An equal number of additional pages prevents any loss to others.

Destined by his patrician birth to take part in the government of his native canton towards the end of the last century, you already know that Fellenberg's attention was early excited by the misery and vice which he observed around him; and he resolved to devote himself to the moral and intellectual reformation of his country.

The laboring classes he saw in a state of ignorance, which rendered them habitually indifferent to everything but their animal necessities and enjoyments; yet capable of being excited and misled-equally fitted to become the instruments of licentious anarchy, or the slaves of despotism. He traced the origin of this state of things to the absence of all rational means of intellectual education, the exclusive attention paid to reading and writing as mechanical acquisitions, to the universally indifferent or technical manner in which moral and religious instruction was communicated, and the utter neglect of all efforts to cultivate moral habits, and to bring principles into action. It required but a glance at the higher schools and universities, to see how little was to be expected for the superior classes. A feeble body—a perverted understanding—a false and generally corrupted taste-much ambition, with some qualifications for shining in the world, these were the common results of the existing course of education; and rarely was it possible to discover any traces of a salutary or ennobling influence on the character and life. No hope could be entertained that the higher classes, who alone possessed the means and the ability, would make any effort to redeem those on whose ignorance they considered their supremacy as reposing. Both high and low, in the view of Fellenberg, seemed destined to sink together. At a later period, the illusive promises of philosophy were proclaimed and broken; and its influence in Switzerland went to inundate it with a flood of new errors and vices.

Fellenberg was convinced that every improvement must commence with the germ of society; that it was only in acting on the rising generation by improving the means of education, that any hope could be cherished of improving its condition. He believed that the efforts made for this purpose must be directed, at the same time, towards the two extremities of the social body; and that it would be in vain to reform those who are destined to labor and obey, without improving the character of those who consume and govern. He believed that no attempt should be made to disturb the order of the European community, by

confounding classes of men whose lot Providence had so widely separated.

While he endeavored to elevate those whose talents rendered them capable of it, to stations in which society could enjoy the utmost benefit from their efforts, he believed that with the mass of the laboring classes, the only rational course was to prepare them for the situation in which Providence had placed them, and to render them happy in it by raising them to their proper rank as rational and moral beings.

It was also of the first importance to establish new relations between the different classes of society. The poor were to be led by a rational and religious education, not only to be content with their own station, but to respect the order which Providence has assigned them; and to see how unworthy of the understanding, as well as the heart that envy and jealousy is, which the lower classes are so ready to indulge towards the more favored. The rich were to be taught to estimate the worth of industry, to feel how dependent they are upon the laboring classes, and to observe and revere the dignity of moral character which is often found among them.

An object of not less importance in the view of Fellenberg, was to correct that unchristian idea of the great world, that to provide for the present and eternal welfare of immortal beings by education, is an occupation beneath the dignity of the more favored classes. It was necessary, therefore, first to create an interest in the object, by showing how much good may be effected, how much happiness produced, and how much real enjoyment secured to him who becomes the instrument of such improvement. Practical demonstration was to be given of the importance of this to the higher classes, in providing them with more skilful overseers, and more honest and obedient servants; and in giving to the state more dutiful and useful subjects.

To attain these ends, no means were more likely to be successful in the view of Fellenberg, than to establish an institution for both classes, in which they should be so separated as to prevent all confusion, and yet so connected that each might observe the other, and that occasion might be given to establish on a christian basis, the character of each, as well as those relations which must afterwards exist in society. To this object,' he observed ten years since, 'I have devoted my life and all that I possess, for twenty years;-to this I still devote them, and am resolved to devote them to my last breath.'

He believed that agriculture, which in the order of Providence was the primitive, and must ever be the principal occupation of mankind in the social state, is best adapted to develope physical and intellectual powers in their proper harmony. He was persuaded that an agricultural establishment and the employments necessarily connected with it, should form the basis of the contemplated Institution. With these views he purchased Hofwyl, at the close of the last century—at that time a private country seat, but now forming a little village, containing three hundred inhabitants, exclusively on his property and under his control. It comprises, 1. A farm, including recent additions in the neighborhood, of about six hundred acres; 2. Workshops, for the fabrication and improvement of agricultural implements, and of clothing for the inhabitants; 3. A lithographic establishment in which music and other things useful to the institution are printed; 4. A Literary Institution for the education of the higher classes; 5. A Practical Institution for those who are destined to trade, or whose circumstances do not permit a more complete education; and, 6. An Agricultural Institution for the education of the laboring classes.

Hofwyl is about six miles from Berne, the capital of the canton of the same name, and the chief town of German Switzerland; and about a mile from the great road which traverses Switzerland from S. W. to N. E. The approach from Berne is through a wood, which presents no traces of cultivation. In issuing from it, you come almost immediately in view of the large buildings and luxuriant fields of the establishment. It is situated on a gentle elevation in the midst of an amphitheatre of hills. On the north, the view is bounded by the Jura Mountains, and on the south by the Bernese Alps, whose tops are covered with perpetual snow. It is surrounded by a valley about eighty feet in depth, which separates it entirely from the neighboring farms and villages. The valley contains two small lakes, and the surrounding scenery is still farther diversified by the villages and hamlets on the opposite hills. The isolation of Hofwyl, in the midst of villages and at no great distance from a large town, and the combination in its neighborhood, of some of the grandest with some of the most beautiful objects of Swiss scenery, were circumstances of no small weight in the view of Fellenberg, in reference to his great object.

On entering Hofwyl from Berne, the traveller finds himself in an extensive court or play ground (A), (see the plan,) fur

nished with instruments for gymnastic exercises, and a hillock of clean sand, in which the younger boys exercise their ingenuity in digging caves and building castles, surrounded on three sides by the building devoted to the Literary Institutions, and sheltered on the west by a little wood (B) composed of a variety of trees, which serve at once as a place for botanical observations, and as a retreat during the heat of summer. In pleasant weather the lessons are not unfrequently given here, in arbors furnished with seats for this purpose.

The principal building on the east of this court (C) is inhabited by eighty pupils, under the constant superintendence of Fellenberg, and four of his children. The basement story is occupied by the kitchen and store-rooms. The first floor is divided into four sections by halls, which traverse the building in its length and breadth. One of these sections is occupied by the superintendents, another by the dining hall and music room, a third and fourth by the chapel, and three large and lofty rooms for study. The second floor is devoted to the class rooms, the library, and the collection of casts. The third and attic stories contain the dormitories for the pupils, and chambers for the superintendents. The size, airiness and neatness of every part of the building are very striking; and a well arranged system of stoves on the Russian plan, maintains a mild and uniform temperature during the winter, which is not to be found in climates far less severe, where the methods of employing fuel are less perfect. In this institution Fellenberg proposes to give a complete education preparatory to professional studies. Between twenty and thirty instructers are employed in this establishment, most of whom reside in another building, and have no connexion with the pupils except during the hours of instruction. Two small buildings (c c) which shelter the court on the north and south, contain a large warm bath for winter, the store-room for the gardening tools of the pupils, a cabinet-maker's shop, in which those who have the disposition are taught this art, the book-bindery of the institution, and several rooms which are devoted to exercises in instrumental music, fencing and dancing, which would interfere with the tranquillity necessary in the principal building.

Beyond the Literary Institution is a second court (A2), furnished like the first with frames and poles for gymnastic exercises.

On the east side of this court are garden spots, and at the