Lowe,  in  his  Evidence,}  said  he  had  rather  throw  money  into
the  sea  than  endow  schools  with  it.  This  extreme  view,  how-
ever, is  hardly  a  practical  one,  because  unless  we  actually  pro-
hibit Endowments,  which  we  certainly  shall  not  do,  it  is  idle  to
suppose  that  they  will  not  continue  to  be  made :  the  tendency
to  do  so  is  deeply  seated  in  our  nature  and  habits.  Whatever
we  may  think,  we  must  be  content  to  do  the  best  we  can  with
them,  for  abolish  them  we  assuredly  shall  not.  Nor  must  I  be
understood  as  agreeing  with  Mr.  Lowe.  In  the  answer  just
previous  to  the  one  I  have  quoted,  he  defined  a  school  endow-
ment as  "a  premium  to  continue  teaching  things  after  the
spirit  of  the  age  has  got  beyond  them."  No  doubt  this  might
be  illustrated  by  innumerable  examples.  But  I  am  well
convinced    that   it  is   just  a  consequence   of    the   monstrous


•  Report  1. 456,  seqq.    f  Wealth  of  Nations,  Lib.  V.,  ch.  I.  2.
J  Schools  Inquiry  Report  IV.,  637.
By  the  Right  ffon.  Lord  Lyttelton.  63

maladministration  which  we  have  allowed  to  prevail,  that  it
is  an  avoidable  evil,  and  that  the  measures  which  have  been
recommended,  and  the  general  nature  of  which  I  shall  point
out,  would  enable  us  to  avoid  it.
