Sir; 



EDINBURGH. 



Condition 

 and chanc- 

 ier of the 



Edinburgh, duct ion and application of it to Mr William Trotter, 



"'V"' one of tin- maj>i-tr.ites of the city, into whoso spirited 



view*, tlu 1 I.iircl 1'rovost, all the meml>crs of the Town 



ancil, and the Sheriff of the county, entered with n 

 readiness uid ardour which are highly honourable to 

 our municipal rulers. 



In respect to the condition and character of the 

 citizens, few observatimi-. will suffice. Though some 

 uf the inli.iliitants be in indepeiuleiit circumstances, af- 

 fluence is rarely enjoyed, and many have nothing but 

 a precarious income from personal labour The ex- 

 pence of subsistence, and the burdens to which they 

 become liable, re very great. One cannot live in his 

 own house without being subjected to nt least 50 per 

 cent of taxation on iM annual value. A considerable 

 portion of this is levied by the magistracy for public pur- 

 pose*. The charge for subsistence is daily augmenting ; 

 lodging, provisions public burdens, are all increasing; 

 nor can those economical means of living be resorted to 

 here, which are said to be practicable in some other 

 great cities. A single gentleman, living in lodgings on 

 the most moderate scale, must spend at least L 200 per 

 annum : and a family, of ordinary size, living in a 

 bouse rented at I..80 or L.100, can scarce live, with all 

 due economy, under L.500 a year. The innumerable 

 applications for aid to public charities form no incon- 

 siderable item in the accounts of the year, though half 

 are rejected. But the great expence consists in lodg- 

 ing and the common articles of subsistence ; and when 

 the education of a family is added, it requires the ut- 

 most frugality to remain on a par with the same rank 

 of society. 



The public amusements are the theatre, concerts, and Edinburgh, 

 assemblies. The theatre is .small, plain without, but > ~"V""' 

 neatly fitted up within ; when very full it produces 

 about L. 180; when overflowing, about I., '.'on. On 

 the whole, it is but [xnirly attended ; seldom or never 

 crowded, indeed, except when an actor of first rate ta- 

 lents happens to perform. Card assemblies can scarcely 

 obtain a company, and dancing a--ciulilies are full but 

 seldom throughout the winter. The rooms are admi- 

 rably adapted fur this amusement, one being <)! feet 

 long by 4'J in width, and I-') high ; besides others suf- 

 ficiently spacious. A concert on an excellent principle 

 subsisted nave a century, but it was given up about the 

 year 17:>7. from want of attendance. Another w..- 

 tahlished in 18 '<), under the name of the Amateur Con- 

 cert, where it was intended the performance should 

 chiefly be by gentlemen. After subsisting two sea- 

 it also was abandoned, from the city producing too few 

 amateurs to preserve the performance in the style that 

 was desirable. Public places are now very much su- 

 perseded by private parties, which are preferred, for 

 reasons that we have not leisure to investigate, nor li- 

 mits to detail. 



The manners of the inhabitants of Edinburgh are 

 characterised by sobriety and decorum. We meet with 

 elegance among the higher ranks ; respectability and 

 good sense among the middle classes ; honesty and in- 

 dustry among the common people ; and such a degree 

 of intelligence among all, as the literary metropolis of 

 a well-educated kingdom might have taught us to ex- 

 pect, (c) 



EDUCATION. 



i-Mmuion. .fcjDUCATioN, in the most extensive acceptation of the 

 > ~ term, comprehends every thing, whether systematic or 

 Education accidental, which has any influence in developing, or 

 'defined. biassing, the powers of the mind, and the tendencies of 

 the heart. The object of systematic education is to cul- 

 tivate the intellectual and moral powers, with a view to 

 some specific result : and education is good or bad, pro- 

 per or improper, complete or deficient, as the end which 

 it proposes is laudable or reprehensible, as the course of 

 discipline is more or less conducive to that end, and as 

 the means employed are adequate or inadequate to its 

 accomplishment. 



t sobjtcu. To promote the happiness and the excellence of the 

 individual, to render him a valuable member of society, 

 and to accustom him to aspire, by the regular discharge 

 of all his religious and social duties, to the happiness 

 which awaits the good in a future world, are the great 

 ends which should be kept in view in the education of 

 all, whatever place in society they may be destined to 

 occupy, from the son of the meanest cottager, to the 

 heir apparent to the throne. But the indefinite variety 

 f relations in which men stand to each other, require 

 a corresponding variety of accomplishments, to enable 

 them to fill their respective stations with respectability 

 and satisfaction to themselves, and with advantage to 

 the community to which they may belong Education, 

 therefore, is either general or particular: general, while 

 it regards us as sentient, moral, and intellectual beings, 

 susceptible of happiness, and capable of improvement ; 

 particular, when it is designed to qualify us for some 

 particul'tr station, or occupation in life. 



In whatever light we view education, it cannot fail 



to appear the most important subject that can engage Education, 

 the attention of mankind. When we contrast the ig- 1^. -_* 

 norance, the rudeness, and the helplessness of the sa- Its import 

 vage, with the knowledge, the refinement, and the re- anc e- 

 sources of civilized man, the difference between them 

 appears so wide, that they can hardly be regarded as of 

 the same species. Yet compare the infant of the sa- 

 vage with that of the most enlightened philosopher, 

 and you will find them in all respects the same. The 

 same " high capacious powers" of mind " lie folded up" 

 in both ; and in both, the organs of sensation adapted 

 to these mental powers are exactly similar. All the dif- 

 ference, which is afterwards to distinguish them, de- 

 pends upon their education. While the mind of the 

 savage, left entirely neglected, will scarcely raise him 

 above the level of die animals around him, insensible to 

 all the wonders of creation, and shut out from all the 

 treasures of nature, the more fortunate member of en- 

 lightened society, whose capacities shall be evolved by a 

 proper education, will comprehend within the ample 

 range of his intelligence the universe of God ; all the 

 beauties of creation will lie unveiled before him ; nature 

 will unlock to him her sacred stores, and reveal her se- 

 cret laws ; the powers of other creatures will become 

 subject to his controul ; and die faculties and the attain- 

 ments of men will be made subservient to his advan- 

 tage or his delight. Such is the importance of educa- 

 tion to the intellectual improvement, and consequent- 

 ly to the happiness of man. But it is not by his 

 intellectual improvement alone that it enlarges the 

 sphere of his enjoyment. It opens to him sources of 

 still more exquisite pleasure, in die moral and religious 



