the largest per centage of the scholars, and, in the Mildenhall District, the Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists have the greatest number.

If we inquire by what religious bodies in particular these Sunday schools are supported and carried on, we shall find that, taking the entire county, the Church of England has more than two-thirds of the schools, and nearly two-thirds of the scholars. The proportion of scholars and schools varies considerably in different districts. In Wangford more than half of the scholars are in Dissenters' schools, and in Ipswich the Church schools contain but little more than half of the Sunday scholars. Church of England Sunday schools are much more general in some places than they are in others. In the Mildenhall Union there are 13 parishes, and 10 Sunday schools supported by the clergy of the district. But Ipswich, with 12 parishes, has only six Sunday schools in connection with the Church of England. Mutford has 25 parishes and 15 church schools; and the Woodbridge Union, with 46 parishes, has only 25 church schools. The Independents and Baptists are nearly equal in this county in the number of chapels and in the number of attendants, yet the former have 61 Sunday schools with 6,597 scholars; the latter have only 41 schools with 3,458 scholars. More than half the chapels of the original body of Wesleyans are without Sunday schools; to 84 chapels there are only 41 schools; and the Primitive Methodists with 72 places of worship have only 15 Sunday schools.

One of the most valuable features of the Sunday school system is the number of teachers it engages. They are generally gratuitous teachers, and commonly persons whose self-denial induces them to abstract from their own scanty leisure the hours they devote to this service. Where zeal and religious interest are really felt in the work, it amply compensates for the schoolmaster's technical skill, and, although the effects of

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the Sunday schools on the children have in many cases been of the most salutary kind, experience has shown that the teachers are almost as much benefited as the scholars. If we assume that the proportion of teachers was the same in the 39 schools from which no returns as to the number of teachers were received as in those which sent complete returns, there were 1,807 teachers in connection with Church of England Sunday schools, 921 in the schools of the Independents, 541 in those of the Baptists, and 425 in the schools of the Original Wesleyans. The average number of children to a school, and the proportion of scholars to a teacher, differ widely in the different denominations. In the church schools there are on an average 63 scholars to a school, and 13 scholars to a teacher; in the schools of the Independents, the number of scholars, 108, and there are seven scholars to one teacher; amongst the Baptists the average is 84, with six scholars to one teacher. The Wesleyan schools average 63 scholars, and they also have one teacher to every six scholars.

In the schools of the Church of England there are 430 paid teachers (181 males and 249 females). The Independents have 12 teachers of this class, and the Baptists 27.

The following table exhibits the number of scholars in the Sunday schools of each of the Poor Law Unions of Suffolk :

EVENING SCHOOLS.

The short time that is spent in primary instruction by the great mass of the children of the working classes renders it quite evident that the mere instruments for gaining knowledge can alone be acquired. Knowledge itself must be obtained in after-life. Hence the importance of Evening Schools, Classes at Mechanics' Institutes, and Mutual Improvement Societies. Numbers of adults may be said to be uneducated who have acquired the art of reading and writing, but who have not since had the opportunity of putting into exercise these means of information.

The number of evening schools from which returns were obtained was 38, containing 835 scholars, of whom 714 were males, and 121 were females. None of them had "free admission" for their terms; but the charges varied, and some of them were low. The number of schools at each of the several rates of charge being thus

There were 17 open all the year round, 6 of them for only six months, and 10 for less than six months in the year. There were 3 open only one hour in the evening, 27 for two hours, and 6 for three. The total number of teachers was 87, of whom 69 were males, and 18 were females. On examining the occupations of the 835 students, no less than 400 were found entered as agricultural laborers, 100 as fishermen, 225 as artizans, 30 as domestic servants, 10 as errand boys, and 70 of no stated occupation. The course of instruction was similar to that of a good day school: 34 of the students were learning to read, 34 the art

of writing, 31 arithmetic, 3 English grammar, geography, 4 mathematics, 9 history, and 1 religious knowledge. Of these schools, three in Mutford Union were attended by 204 scholars, six in Sudbury Union had 101 scholars, two in Wangford 81 scholars, five in Blything had 78, and six in Thingoe had only 55 scholars. In Thingoe, Hartismere, Samford, Woodbridge, and Plomesgate, the scholars were all males; but in Wangford 41 out of 81 scholars were females, and in Bosmere 28 out of 63 belonged to that sex, whilst in Mutford, the 204 scholars included only 5 females.

CHAPTER VIII.

RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE.

THERE is no portion of our subject more important than that which is now to occupy our attention. As the morality of a people is based on Religion, the investigation of the Religious Condition of the People is of essential importance in contemplating their present moral condition, and cannot fail to arrest the attention. and awaken the interest of all moral and social reformers.

Suffolk is in the province of Canterbury, and until 1837 was, with the exception of four peculiars, entirely in the Diocese of Norwich. It has two archdeaconries, Sudbury and Suffolk. The former was instituted in A.D. 1127, and has been by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners attached to the See of Ely. It comprises the Deaneries of Sudbury, Blackbourn, Clare, Fordham, Thedwestry, and Thingoe; 174 cures, of which 126 are rectories, 18 are vicarages, 19 perpetual curacies, and 11 chapelries. The present archdeacon is the Very Reverend George Glover, M.A., of South Repps, Norfolk. Charles Wodehouse, Esq., of Bury, is deputy registrar.

The Archdeaconry of Suffolk, which was created in A.D. 1127, comprehends the Deaneries of Bosmere, Carlsford, Claydon, Colneis, Dunwich, Hartismere, Hoxne, Ipswich, Loes and Lothingland, Samford, Orford, Stow, Southelmham, Wangford and Wilford, including 348 cures, of which 198 are rectories, 80