COWLEY SCHOOL, (OXFORD DIOCESAN CENTRAL,) NEAR OXFORD. REPORT OF THE EXAMINATION, HELD DECEMBER, 1861. OXFORD: PRINTED BY J. VINCENT. 20 COWLEY DIOCESAN SCHOOL. The Public Presentation of Prizes at this School, previous to the break up for the Christmas Holidays, took place at the School on Thursday afternoon, December 19th. There were present the Lord Bishop of Oxford, the Rev. Messrs. Slatter, Warburton, Huntingford, Benson, Kane, Wilgress, Gordon, and Rankin, Captain Burrows, the Master of the School (Mr. Hurman), &c. The Lord Bishop of the Diocese called on the Rev. Mr. Slatter to read the Report, which was as follows: "The Committee have great pleasure in stating that in the matter of chief concern in education, the element of religious knowledge-the Examination shews that the same earnest attention has been devoted to it as on former occasions. "The general character of the Examination proves also that satisfactory progress has been made in all the branches of knowledge which the School undertakes to impart; and the Committee have especial pleasure in noticing that in the subject of History, particularly in the first division, the Examiner is able to report improvement on preceding years. This result is no doubt in great measure owing to the adoption of a better Text Book. "The Arithmetic papers are very satisfactory, one of them even reaching the maximum number of marks. "The Writing, too, and general neatness of the whole, are beyond all praise. “The Prizes awarded are as follows: FIRST DIVISION. MAX. OF MARKS. PRIZES. RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE...200...1. Richard Goddard......165.................. Bible. LITERATURE MATHEMATICS GEOGRAPHY 2. Bernard Middleton ...149 ...133............ Shakspeare. .....132 76...Somerville's Phys. [Science. .280...I. J. A. Reeve 2. C. B. Hilton 90 SECOND DIVISION. RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE...200...1. W. S. Green ........ .144...Prayer-Book. 2. Matthew F. Bliss......129 GENERAL PROFICIENCY ...730...1. Matthew F. Bliss......308... Curiosities of] Lit., GENERAL PROFICIENCY..........1. Seymour Tyrrell ......108...Ancient Britons. 2. James Curtis.......................... 92 The LORD BISHOP, previously to distributing the prizebooks, all of which were both handsomely and substantially bound, said that it gave him great pleasure, as the Head of the Diocesan Board of Education, to come and distribute the prizes. And in looking at the Report of the Committee it was a matter of great satisfaction to him that the first sentence was witness to the continued attention which was paid throughout the School to the department of religious knowledge. That must ever be the characteristic of a really good and solid education. All education which was not based on a thorough knowledge of the Word of God must ever be fruitless alike for this world and the next. The spirit of true philosophy and of true religion were the same. The strength of both consisted in humility. Now it was religion which taught a man true humility, and so enabled him to be a true philosopher. It taught him his real position amongst the creatures of God. This was the most remarkable thing about that great man Sir Isaac Newton,-his humility. He used to say that he had no faculties different from those of other men, only that he had had time to pay attention to certain subjects, and so gained his discoveries. But here was his special faculty, the faculty of paying attention. It was his humility which kept him from hasty conclusions, and led him onward in the diligent investigation of truth. Now this was the great value of a religious education as respected their fellow-creatures round about them. An education that was not thus grounded, was like a tower built without a foundation. It fell. It carried ruin in its fall, like the tower of Siloam. The head might be crammed with knowledge, but without that foundation of humility and religion it was mere visionary knowledge, leading on to hasty theories which brought ruin with them in the efforts to carry them out. And then, as |