Previous  to  1839  Parliament  exercised  no-
direct  control  over  any  of  the  educational
institutions  of  the  country.  And  even
now,  though  several  Acts  of  Parliament
have  been  passed  amending  and  remodelling
the  constitution  of  the  various  corporate
bodies  which  provide  superior  and  secon-
dary education— the  universities,  colleges,
endowed  public  and  grammar  schools —
yet  the  Legislature  has  stopped  short  of
actual  interference  in  the  educational
work  done  under  the  control  of  these
bodies.  With  regard  to  elementary  edu-
cation, however,  it  has  gone  a  step  further.
In  1839  it  found  this  branch  of  educa-
tion entirely  in  the  hands  of  private
individuals  or  voluntary  associations.
Prominent  among  these  latter  were  the
4  British  and  Foreign  School  Society/
founded  in  1808  as  the  result  of  the  edu-
cational revival  initiated  by  Joseph  Lan-
caster, and  the  l  National  Society  for  Pro-
moting the  Education  of  the  Poor  in  the
Principles  of  the  Church  of  England, '
established  three  years  later  (1811)  to-
give  aid  in  money  and  books  to  those-


LAW   (EDUCATIONAL)


181


elementary  schools  in  which  the  Church
Catechism  was  taught.  In  that  year  Par-
liament voted  30,000£.  for  the  purpose  of
elementary  education,  and  formed  a  Com-
mittee of  the  Privy  Council  to  administer
nnd  distribute  the  sum  voted.  This  Com-
mittee at  first  restricted  its  grants  in  aid
to  the  erection  of  schools  which  were  in
connection  either  with  the  National  Society
or  the  British  and  Foreign  School  Society.
