them from supplying their children with clothing to attend the schools. The want of proper books is another difficulty, prevailing to a degree, which we can form very little conception of in this country; whole parishes being stated to be without a Bible,* or any other religious book, in the houses, or in the schools of the poor; their place being supplied by "such "romances and histories of profligate and dar ing adventurers, as have been handed down "from generation to generation, and must con"tribute to cherish an unsettled and irregular spirit, irreconcileable with the habits of order " and industry.” In a country long inveterated in religious prejudices, and recently convulsed by domestic hostilities, commencing in distinctions of sects, it is a most favourable circumstance to Christian charity, that there are to be found in the returns of above two hundred parishes, very few and imperfect traces of sectarism producing This return was prior to the exertions of the Dublin Association for distributing Bibles and Testaments among the poor of Ireland. In a note to the Introductory Letter to the fourth Volume of the Reports, the reader will find notice of the honourable and benevolent efforts, which the Association has made in that respect. One can only regret that the imperious magnitude of the call should be such, as to exceed even these supplics from Christian benevolence. impediments to education. In many parts the Roman Catholic priests offer co-operation; and it appears, that the children of Papists' attend the Protestant schools without objection, whenever education, not conversion, is the object. It also appears, that there are several Catholic schools, where Protestant children attend, and are instructed in the sacred Scriptures, and in the Catechism of the Church of England; that the New Testament is now read in many of the Catholic schools, and that the opinion is expressed, even in the most ignorant + and bigoted parts of the Western district of Ireland, that "if proper Protestant masters were appointed, and no works of con * While charity, kindness, and mutual concession between sects are recommended, it must not be omitted to caution against that particular species of religious candour, which originates in indifference to every religious concern; and to adopt the observation in these Returns, that in our endeavours to promote harmony between sects, too much care cannot be exerted to prevent the sacrifice of the VITAL PRINCIPLES of religion itself. + With respect to the Latin language, formerly so prevalent in the western parts of Ireland, the fact is too curious to be left unnoticed, that in the diocese of Limerick only one Latin school is returned: all the remaining vestiges of Roman literature being, it is stated, preserved by traditionary care, in the wilder and more mountainous parts of the county of Kerry. "troversy taught, the children of Catholics "would attend them." This is to be accounted for by circumstances which are repeatedly noticed in these Returns, viz.—that the Irish poor, at the present time, are extremely anxious that their children should have the benefit of instruction ;-that a general system of education would be now received by the lower ranks with the warmest gratitude, and would produce the most beneficial effects; that if land were granted for that purpose, many parishes would build houses for schoolmasters;—and that in the opinion of the oldest residents, their wish for improvement never was SO STRONG as at the present period. 4 June, 1804. No. XX. BY EDUCATION OF THE POOR IN SCOTLAND. y an act of the King (James VI.) and privy Council of the 10th December, 1616, it was recommended to the bishops to deale and travel with the heritors, (land proprietors) and inhabitants of the several parishes in their respective dioceses, towards the fixing upon 66 some "certain, solid, and sure course" for settling and entertaining a school* in each parish. This was ratified by a statute of Charles I. (in the year 1633), which empowered the Bishop, with the consent of the heritors of a parish, or of a majority of the inhabitants, if the heritors. refused to attend the meeting, to assess every plough of land (that is every farm in proportion to the number of ploughs upon it) with a certain sum for establishing a school. This was an ineffectual provision, as depending on the consent and pleasure of the heritors and inhabitants. Therefore a new order of things Reports, No. CXXVIII, was introduced by an act passed in 1646, which obliges the heritors and minister of each parish to meet and assess the several heritors with the requisite sum for building a school house, and to elect a schoolmaster, and modify a salary for him in all time to come. The salary is ordered not to be under one hundred, nor above two hundred merks, that is, in our present sterling money, not under 5l. 11s. 11⁄2d. nor above 117. 25. 3d.; and the assessment is to be laid on the land, in the same proportion as it is rated for the support of the clergy, and as it regulates the payment of the land tax, But in case the heritors of any parish, or the majority of them, should fail to discharge this duty, then the persons forming what is called the Committee of Supply of the county, (consisting of the principal landholders), or any five of them, are authorized by the statute to impose the assessment instead of them, on the representation of the presbytery in which the parish is situated. To secure the choice of a proper teacher, the right of election of the heritors, by a statute passed in the year 1693, is made subject to the review and controul of the presbytery of the district; who have the examination of the person proposed, committed to them, both as to |