DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

( 40) the education of the masses was gradually improved ; but it was not until the adoption of the compulsory system of 1870 that its advantages came to be availed of to anything approaching the extent which now prevails. In former times all the power of authority in this country rested in the hands of the wealthy, who were then also the educated classes. Now there is no village in the country where one school at least does not give elementary teaching to the young. Those who, later on, are capable of benefiting by further instruction in any skilled handi- craft have technical schools open to them; while pro- ficiency in artistic and scientific acquirements can be obtained through the medium of the classes estab- lished in most towns in connexion with the Science and Art Department at South Kensington. Again, by means of the University Extension Movement all the advantages of that higher education which were, heretofore, confined to the favoured few who studied at the great Universities, are open to the humblest student in many parts of the country. Equally conducive to the diffusion of knowledge has been the reduction in the price of books. Standard and popular works on all subjects are now brought within the reach of the most limited means. Cir- culating libraries and free libraries afford numerous opportunities even to the residents in remote dis- tricts to make themselves acquainted with all branches