J4 On the Poor Laws of Scotla?id, Feb^ 



collections, appoint the distributions, as the necessities of the 

 poor iViaj reqiiii-e, meet quarterly or annually, to settle and 

 ballance their treasurer's accounts ; and all this without any 

 fee or reward whatever, except the consciousness of doing 

 ^ood. In some parishes there are some small funds in mo- 

 ney, arisiiig- either from former savings, or legacies bequeathed 

 to the poor, by charitable and well disposed persons. But even 

 with ti;eie it Vvould appear, from Sir John Sinclair's Statistic 

 cal Account, that the exper.ce of maintaining the poor, in 

 country parishes, seldom reaches farther than from lol. to 2ol. 

 a year i and yet, with this small provision, joined with the 

 private chnritv of the inhabitants, the poor ai^e well supplied, 

 and live comfortably. 



The most beneficial effect of this system is, that, being in 

 itself so pmall, people in tlie lower ranks of life, never look 

 towards it, as their resource, under sickness and old age. In- 

 deed, the accepting of charity is purely a matter of necessity 

 with them, and not of choice ; where it is almost invariably 

 considered as degrading and demeaning the character, from be- 

 ing the effect of sloth or thriftlessness in the former period of 

 life. So ^reat, commonly, is the horror, or aversion enter^ 

 tained upon this : i:\'cct (of receiving charity), that the most 

 Iiumiliating and unsufferable term of reproac^i that can be cast 

 upon any one, is, that their parents or near relatives were sup- 

 ported by the Session, as it is called ; that is, from the pub- 

 lic collections at the church, which are under the management 

 of the minister and ciders of tlie parish, who compose the 

 session or consistorv of the paris'n. So powerful i^^ this sen- 

 timent among periple in the lov.-er ranks in Scotland, tliat, in 

 order that this odiuni may never fall upon their offspring, tliey 

 study to live with the utmost frugality, that they iray be able 

 to give them some education, accustom them early to habit?; 

 of industry, or place them cut \* trades; and, at the same 

 time, to save something for old age, and to bury tliem de- 

 cently, witiiout being obliged to depend on public charity air 

 that iromentous crisis. To have wherewith to purchase a 

 coiBn and a winding-sheet, if they should have noticing more, 

 is the height of their ambition. ' Such is the happy influence 

 of wise regulations, in forming the characters and manners of 

 mankind I 



It v/ill readily be conceived, tliat what lias been observed 

 just now about the state of the poor, is chiefly applicable to 

 the poor in counr ry or landward parishes. In cities and great 

 townc, they are under different regulations and management 

 from tl'Ose in tlie country. From tlic dissipation and corrup- 

 tion of manners that arc incident ^o towns, it isi at once evi- 

 dent 



