Page:History and characteristics of Bishop Auckland.djvu/152

 mSTOKY OP BISHOP AUCKLAND. 125 at other schools which the Bishop contemplated establishing in the diocese;* but this being found inconvenient^ the system was changed by the Bishop himself, and instead thereof it was the practice to receive into the school such grown-up persons as wished to learn the Madras system of instruction- Such persons, upon bringing a certificate of good conduct, and a recommendation from the clergyman of the parish in which they resided, were admitted into the school, and were boarded and lodged for about six weeks gratuitously, if they were not possessed of sufficient means to defray the cost Those who were able to pay lodged out of the house, and only attended during school hours to learn their duties. With respect to the Madras system of teaching introduced into this country by Dr» Bell, and of whi6h the Bishop Auckland Barrington School was in its early days a model, it was deemed by Government to be a complete failure; the educational course was considered defective; and wherever those schools existed, our legislature,. under the new educational regulations, swept them away, or caused them to conform to the principles defined by the Educational Council. Hence, all those old dominies, who had generally been misfits in some other profession, and who had acquired a little learning themselves, but knew little or nothing about any sjrstem of imparting it to others, were all laid on the shelf, or pensioned ofi't — thus giving place to young men from the Training Colleges, who not only had the learning, but the requisite qualifications for imparting it to others. The Madras sjBtem was certainly a very simple one, and easy for the masters. The pupil had free scope either to teach himself, or be taught by others with equal, and sometimes less, ability; whilst the master, in the meantime, had ample leisure to pursue other callings agreeable to himsel£ According to the author's recollection and experience, the education obtained at the school at Auckland was of a very humble character. He was taken there at the age of six years, passed through the whole of the classes, became a teacher, taught four of the classes, and left the school again before he attained the age of eleven years. Readiug (which was confined to Scripture history), writing, and arithmetic, with a little Church catechism by way of a task, constituted the several branches of education imparted to the scholars. Many hoys left the schools conducted on the Madras system with the acquisition of a very slight store of knowledge indeed compared many of whom were sent oat as Ushers and Schoolmasters, and some few took holy orders, and became Clergymen of the Charch of England. It is rather a delicate task, and may seem to some people an invidioas one, to particularise our local living celebrities; yet we think the most critical mast admit that we have two individaals (both educated at the Barrington School) living m our midst who have made their mark^the one in the walks of polite literature, and the other in that of scienoe—and who deserve a passing note in the annab of our town. It is said tiiat a poet never lives until he is dead — Through which the living Homer begg'd his bread;" And much the same may be said with respect to the pioneers and votaries of science. To posterity is oft left the right appredation and reward of true genius; but if we take into account the early education and social position of our fellow-townsman, Mr. Kobert Gibbon, with that of the many beautiful poems which have from time to time emanated from lus pen, the most fastidious must admit that he is an honour to the school where he received his first rudiments of education, to the class from which he spruno, and the town which gave him birth. But we leave to some other scribe the task of writing his biography, and content ourselves with merely claiming him as our own. Mr. Joseph Duff deserves also a notice in our annals. He did much in early life to cultivate a taste in our midst for natural history, and more especially in Ornithology and Entomology; but of recent years his attention has been more particularly directed to the noble science of Geology. It would take us beyond the limits of a note to notice the whole of his investigations and (uscoveries in oounection with this important subject; suffice it to say that those which are intimately connected with our own neighbourhood are to be found recorded in the ''Natural History Transactions of Northumberland and Durham, for 1871," voL iv., under the title of "Notes of the Geology of South Durham." An account of his researches in the maffnesian limestone and marl slate of Middridge is also to be found in the pages of the " Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London," which includes several discoveries of oonsiderable importance, amongst which may be named four specimens of Dorypterut jffojhuumi, two of them fotmd in the year 1865, and the other two in the autunm of 1869, and which are said to be the first specimens of this very singular fossil that have been obtained from the marl slate of this oountiy. Illnstrations of those four important additions to the fauna of South Durham are to be found in that Journal, voL xxvii, Na 105, for February, 1871. In the same years, and at the same nlace, four poupe of the jaw- teeth of the Jamuta hiUminoaa were also discovered by him, which are the first and oxdy spedmens that have been round in England. The^ have also been recorded and illustrated in the "Transactions of the Geological Society." But perhaps his most important addition to the fauna of the permian rocks of Durham, is his discovery of the renuuns of a Labyrinthodant, The eictraordinary characteristics of this relic of the antideluvian world marks an era in geological discovery in this oountiy, and has rendered it necessary to estabUsh a new genus for its reception, and to which has been given the name of ** Lepidoiotaurut Dtifii,^^ the specific name being in honour of Mr. Ihiff, its discoverer. He has also done much for the advancement of the social, as well as the intelleotual, welfare of the town, having sat as a member of the Board of Guardians, the Board of Health, and the Highway Board. f Any man who had Droved his unfitness for any other occupation m lif e^ was free, without examination or qualification, to open % Bciiool anywhera— Preface to '' Nicbolas Nigklkbt." Digitized by Google
 * Leesons were also ^iven in the Glaarios by the master of the Grammar School to the monitors and the more advanced scholars,
 * Seven cities claim Homer dead.