FEMALE EDUCATION.
[TO THE EDITOR. OP TRH "SPECTATOR.")
venture to ask for the insertion of a few words in vindica- tion of the work done in a good cause by one whose loss we have recently deplored.
An article on "Female Education " appeared in the Times of Monday last, in which I find the statement that a "few years ago it was only the hobby of some stray enthusiasts," who seemed "unable to put foot to the ground for any practical purpose."
I submit that such an assertion as this, ignoring all that has been done since 1848 by Mr. Maurice, as the founder and first Principal of Queen's College, London ; by the Archbishop of Dublin, as his successor in that 'office ; and by their colleagues,. through a period of a quarter of a century, is utterly at variance with the facts. The College, with which I have been myself connected for nearly twenty years, has been a chartered corpor- ation since 1853. It has made both ends meet, and has had an average attendance of 200 pupils. It has a foundation of some- ten or twelve scholarships. It has all along aimed at, and given, a general. not a professional or class education. In the Ladies' College in Bedford Square, and in that at Cheltenham, it has had worthy fellow-labourers in the same field.
I wish all success to those who are now seeking at Cambridge,
or elsewhere, to develop the work thus begun ; but it is only just to the memory of a great name to remind them that they are entering on a harvest of which another sowed the seed, and that the success of the cause which they have at heart was due in the first instance to the energy, the labour, and, more than all, the informing spirit of Frederick Maurice.—I am, Sir, &c., E. H. PLuiarras.
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