flattering reception you have given to one whose claim is, that he
has the distinction of making it his profession.
[Later in the evening, Mr. Dickens gave as a toast, “The
Educational Institutions of Birmingham,” in the following speech:]
I am requested to propose – or, according to the hypothesis of my
friend, Mr. Owen, I am in the temporary character of a walking
advertisement to advertise to you – the Educational Institutions of
Birmingham; an advertisement to which I have the greatest pleasure
in calling your attention, Gentlemen, it is right that I should, in
so many words, mention the more prominent of these institutions,
not because your local memories require any prompting, but because
the enumeration implies what has been done here, what you are
doing, and what you will yet do. I believe the first is the King
Edward’s Grammar School, with its various branches, and prominent
among them is that most admirable means of training the wives of
working men to be good wives and working wives, the prime ornament
of their homes, and the cause of happiness to others – I mean those
excellent girls’ schools in various parts of the town, which, under
the excellent superintendence of the principal, I should most
sincerely desire to see in every town in England. Next, I believe,
is the Spring Hill College, a learned institution belonging to the
body of Independents, foremost among whose professors literature is
proud to hail Mr. Henry Rogers as one of the soundest and ablest
contributors to the Edinburgh Review. The next is the Queen’s
College, which, I may say, is only a newly-born child; but, in the
hands of such an admirable Doctor, we may hope to see it arrive at
a vigorous maturity. The next is the School of Design, which, as
has been well observed by my friend Sir Charles Eastlake, is
invaluable in such a place as this; and, lastly, there is the
Polytechnic Institution, with regard to which I had long ago
occasion to express my profound conviction that it was of
unspeakable importance to such a community as this, when I had the
honour to be present, under the auspices of your excellent
representative, Mr. Scholefield. This is the last of what has been
done in an educational way. They are all admirable in their kind;
but I am glad to find that more is yet doing. A few days ago I
received a Birmingham newspaper, containing a most interesting
account of a preliminary meeting for the formation of a Reformatory
School for juvenile delinquents. You are not exempt here from the
honour of saving these poor, neglected, and wretched outcasts. I
read of one infant, six years old, who has been twice as many times
in the hands of the police as years have passed over his devoted
head. These are the eggs from which gaol-birds are hatched; if you
wish to check that dreadful brood, you must take the young and
innocent, and have them reared by Christian hands.
Page 31
Dickens, Charles – Speeches, Literary & Social
Lastly, I am rejoiced to find that there is on foot a scheme for a
new Literary and Scientific Institution, which would be worthy even
of this place, if there was nothing of the kind in it – an
institution, as I understand it, where the words “exclusion” and
“exclusiveness” shall be quite unknown – where all classes may
assemble in common trust, respect, and confidence – where there
shall be a great gallery of painting and statuary open to the
inspection and admiration of all comers – where there shall be a
museum of models in which industry may observe its various sources
of manufacture, and the mechanic may work out new combinations, and
arrive at new results – where the very mines under the earth and
under the sea shall not be forgotten, but presented in little to
the inquiring eye – an institution, in short, where many and many
of the obstacles which now inevitably stand in the rugged way of
the poor inventor shall be smoothed away, and where, if he have
anything in him, he will find encouragement and hope.
I observe with unusual interest and gratification, that a body of