plate as likely to arise from the state of the population combined with the state of the laws, should no amelioration take place.

I have the honour to remain,

&c. &c.

J. K. L.

AVERAGE number of births and marriages in the united consisting of an extensive district

parishes of

of champaign country, as well as a small but very thriving

town.

Average number of Births in each year, from 1784 to

It is to be observed, that, according to the above returns, the number of marriages in the last

year was exactly the same as in the year 1784, that is forty years ago; and that the number of births was almost equal in one year, at that remote period, to what it has been in the year just ended; the difference being only nine in a total of about three hundred.

LETTER VI.

ON EDUCATION IN IRELAND; AND ON BIBLE SOCIETIES.

DEAR SIR,

THERE were not as many verse-makers in Rome in the time of Horace, as there are writers and speakers on education nowa-days in a single assembly of ladies and gentlemen in Ireland. It is difficult to obtain silence in a crowd; it is still more difficult to secure attention for any length of time; and I fear that you are almost the only reader of this letter who will not merely look through it, and then give it to the winds, rapidis ut fiat ludibria ventis. I will write it, however, and commit it, like a lottery

ticket, to fortune or providence; it may be forgotten amongst the thousand blanks, it is possible that a prize awaits it.

When I look back to the splendid labours of the lamented Whitbread on behalf of education; when I consider the spirit which was awakened by him, and so successfully disseminated by those who, like Mr. Brougham, were his companions or his followers in that godly work, and compare these men and their views with the stunted thoughts and puerile follies of many who now hark in the general cry, my admiration of the great and wise men who have sought, or still seek, to advance human knowledge is enhanced, whilst my contempt of their helpless retainers is without bounds.

A sort of enthusiasm in favour of the education of the lower orders has now prevailed in these countries for a few years; more than a just value has been attached to it, and there are but few men in society who calculate upon its possible Like every other subject or bub

consequences.