the charge of supporting them. In the country parish schools the English language, writing, and accounts, are generally taught at the rate of six shillings, and Latin, at the rate of ten or twelve shillings per annum, In the towns the

prices are somewhat higher.

It would be improper in this place to inquire minutely into the degree of instruction received at these seminaries, or to attempt any precise estimate of its effects either on the individuals who are the subjects of this instruction, or on the community to which they belong. That it is on the whole favorable to industry and morals, though doubtless with some individual exceptions, seems to be proved by the most striking and decisive appearance; and it is equally clear, that it is the cause of that spirit of emigration and of adventure so prevalent among the Scotch. Knowledge has, by Lord Verulam, been denominated power; by others it has, with less propriety, been denominated virtue or happiness: we may with confidence consider it as motion. A human being, in proportion as he is informed, has his wishes enlarged, as well as the means of gratifying those wishes. He may be considered as taking within the sphere of his vision a larger portion of the globe on which we tread, and discovering advantage at a greater distance on its surface.

His

His desires or ambition once excited, are stimulated by his imagination, and distant and uncertain objects giving freer scope to the operation of this faculty, often acquire in the mind of the youthful adventurer an attraction from their very distance and uncertainty. If therefore a greater degree of instruction be given to the peasantry of a country comparatively poor, in the neighbourhood of other countries rich in natural and acquired advantages, and if the barriers be removed that kept them separate, emigration from the former to the latter will take place to a certain extent, by laws nearly as uniform as those by which heat diffuses itself among surrounding bodies, or water finds its level when left to its natural course. By the articles of the Union the barrier was broken down which divided the two British nations, and knowledge and poverty poured the adventurous natives of the north, over the fertile plains of England, and, more especially, over the colonies which she had settled in the east and in the west. The stream of population continues to flow from the north to the south; for the causes that originally impelled it continue to operate; and the richer country is constantly invigorated by the accession of an informed and hardy race of men, educated in poverty, and prepared for hardship and danger, patient of labour, and prodigal of life.-See Appendix, No. I. Note B.

The

The preachers of the reformation in Scotland were disciples of Calvin, and brought with them the temper as well as the tenets of that celebrated heresiarch. The presbyterian form of worship and of church government, was endeared to the people, from its being established by themselves. It was endeared to them also, by the struggle it had to maintain with the catholic and the protestant episcopal churches, over both of which, after a hundred years of fierce and sometimes bloody contention, it finally triumphed, receiving the countenance of government, and the sanction of law. During this long period of contention and of suffering, the temper of the people became more and more obstinate and bigotted, and the nation received that deep tinge of fanaticism which coloured their public transactions as well as their private virtues; and of which evident traces may be found in our own times. When the public schools were established, the instruction communicated in them, partook of the religious character of the people. The catechism of the Westminster divines was the universal schoolbook, and was put into the hands of the young peasant as soon as he had acquired a knowledge of his alphabet; and his first exercise in the art of reading, introduced him to the most mysterious doctrines of the Christian faith. This practice is continued in our own times.

After

After the Assembly's catechism, the proverbs of Solomon, and the New and Old Testament, follow in regular succession; and the scholar departs, gifted with the knowledge of the sacred writings, and receiving their doctrines according to the interpretation of the Westminster confession of faith. Thus with the instruction of infancy in the schools of Scotland, are blended the dogmas of the national church; and hence the first and most constant exercise of ingenuity among the peasantry of Scotland, is displayed in religious disputation. With a strong attachment to the national creed, is conjoined a bigotted preference of certain forms of worship; the source of which would be often altogether obscure, if we did not recollect that the ceremonies of the Scottish church, were framed in direct opposition in every point, to those of the church of Rome.

The eccentricities of conduct, and singularities of opinion and manners, which characterized the English sectaries in the last century, afforded a subject for the comic muse of Butler, whose pictures lose their interest, since their archetypes are lost. Some of the peculiarities common among the more rigid disciples of Calvinism in Scotland, in the present times, have given scope to the ridicule of Burns, whose humour is equal to Butler's, and whose draw

ings from living manners are singularly expressive and exact. Unfortunately the correctness of his taste did not always correspond with the strength of his genius, and hence some of the most exquisite of his comic productions are rendered unfit for the light."

The information and the religious education of the peasantry of Scotland, promote sedateness of conduct, and habits of thought and reflection. These good qualities are not counteracted by the establishment of poor-laws, which, while they reflect credit on the benevolence, detract from the wisdom of the English legislature. To make a legal provision for the inevitable distresses of the pour, who by age or disease are rendered incapable of labour, may indeed seem an indispensable. duty of society; and if, in the execution of a plan for this purpose, a distinction could be introduced, so as to exclude from its benefits those whose sufferings are produced by idleness or profligacy, such an institution would perhaps be as rational as humane. But to lay a general tax on property for the support of poverty, from whatever cause proceeding, is a measure full of danger.

It

Holy Willie's Prayer; Rob the Rhymer's Welcome to his Bastard Child; Epistle to J. Gowdie; The Holy Tulzie, &c.