an be proved to a demonstration that 999 deaf mutes out of every
1000 possess the faculty of speech, and that such faculty can be
successfully utilised? Mr. Isaac tells us, that at Burton Crescent,
after only eighteen months' instruction, a deaf child who had never
previously uttered a clear sound, recited a verse of the National Anthem
in a way that brought tears into the eyes of many hearers. The questions
are put by the teacher in audible language; and the deaf mute, by aid of
lip-reading--another marvel of the system in which the eye does duty for
the ear--comprehends every question, and gives answers audibly and
distinctly. The Association in aid of the Deaf and Dumb, of which the
Rev. Samuel Smith is the able and indefatigable secretary, are, however,
doubtful of the new system--and certainly lip-reading seems liable to
give facilities for great misapprehension as to the speaker's
meaning--and prefer to continue the system which the society was
organized in 1840 to teach, and under which it has worked more or less
successfully ever since. Under this system has sprung up a deaf and dumb
church-going public. On Sundays there are five or six places opened for
such in London; on Tuesday evenings there are two, the principal one
being held in the fine old church of St. Lawrence Jewry, near the
Guildhall--one of Sir Christopher Wren's churches--in which are monuments
to Wilkins, the learned Bishop of Chester, and Archbishop Tillotson,
whose lot was no peaceful one, and of whom it is worthy of remark that in
the language of Jortin he broke through an ancient and fundamental rule
of controversial theology, "Allow not an adversary either to have common
sense or common honesty." Poor Tillotson, you see, never got over the
disadvantages of Dissenting training.

But to return to the deaf and dumb. Inside this handsome church you will
find any Tuesday evening about eight o'clock, some fifty or sixty of them
sitting near the reading desk. Most of them are men and women in a
humble position in life, engaged in various callings in the
neighbourhood, more, however, in the east than the west. The desire to
profit by such services seems on the increase. They have, for instance,
at St. Lawrence, double the number they had, and the same may be said
with regard to the services conducted morning and evening at the
Polytechnic Institution. Nor are these services held in vain. Every
year some are prepared for confirmation, and