THE COMMITTEE S.H.1896 OF THE PROTESTANT DISSENTERS' GRAMMAR SCHOOL, AT MILL HILL, BROUGHT TO THE BAR OF THE DISSENTING PART OF BY THE REV. JOHN HUMPHRYS, LATE PRINCIPAL. -Omnia ferre Si potes, et debes. Juvenal. SECOND Edition. 1826. LONDON: PRINTED FOR FRANCIS WESTLEY, 10, STATIONERS COURT, AND AVE MARIA LANE: AND SOLD BY C. J. WESTLEY, AND 499. PREFACE. AN apology perhaps may be expected from the author of the following pages, for obtruding them upon the eye of the public. It may be said, that" even admitting the truth of all which is therein alleged against the Mill Hill committee in general, and certain members of it in particular, yet, on many accounts, it might have been advisable to have buried in obscurity the recent proceedings." The author replies, that if he had moved in a private circle, he would have remained silent under the most unmerited treatment. But being by other persons considered as somewhat of a public character, he conceives that he is called upon, in the present case, to appeal to the public. He feels that something is due to himself. Having been compelled to quit an important station, or to sacrifice his honour, it is not to be supposed that having relinquished the situation, he should (by a tame submission to calumny) sacrifice his honour also. More, perhaps, is due to the public than to himself, in this matter. Many parents have confessedly sent their sons to the Mill Hill School from their respect to the character of the late principal, and he would not wish them to imagine that their confidence has been ill placed. He conceives also that the pupils who have been under his instruction, (many of whom are making a respectable figure in society,) will not wish to be told that they were under the care of an incompetent tutor. The author knows this committee too well to expect that they will, at present, acknowledge any error in their proceedings; not feeling individual responsibility, they will probably persist in defending even the most objectionable measures; time, however, may teach them important lessons; and society, at large, it is hoped, may eventually derive some benefit from the exposure of their conduct to the eye of an impartial public. A BRIEF ACCOUNT, &c. THE Protestant Dissenters Grammar School at Mill Hill, founded in the year 1807, was established with a view to secure to the sons of the more opulent among that numerous and increasing body, the advantages of sound classical learning, in connexion with strict and evangelical piety. In furtherance of this design, three masters have been appointed for the classical department, the principal uniting in himself the offices of minister and first classical master. The gentleman who filled the office of principal at the commencement of the school, was the late Rev. John Atkinson, formerly classical tutor at Hoxton Academy; he had been well trained at a grammar school in the north B |