sect. VII. THE COUNTY OF FIFE. 325: 



which among the people, no government can be 

 stable, no nation can flourish, no individual be 

 happy. There they are brought to think and 

 to act as social beings ; to know and to practise 

 the principal duties which man owes to man, 

 such as justice, truth, benevolence, and the 

 like. There the habits of sobriety, industry, 

 subordination, and obedience to lawful authori- 

 ty are formed and cultivated. There, in short, 

 the young are instructed in the first principles 

 of useful literature, such as reading their mo- 

 ther tongue, writing, and the fundamental rules 

 of arithmetic, and the course of education regu- 

 lated and extended according as genius points, 

 or as circumstances may permit. Thus furnish- 

 ed with virtuous habits, and the principles of 

 useful knowledge, they enter upon the theatre 

 of life, prepared to act their part with honour 

 to themselves, and advantage to the public, in 

 whatever department it may please Providence 

 to place them. 



An office of such high importance to the corrw 

 fort and usefulness of individuals, especially of 

 the lower classes, and to the best interests of the 

 community at large, ought certainly to be filled 

 with men of education, of prudence, and re- 

 spectability of character. And this is the more 

 necessary in the present times, when the ene- 

 mies of religion and of good order are endeavour- 

 ing, by all means in their power, to taint the 

 minds of the weak and the ignorant, with the 

 poisonous principles of infidelity, disloyalty, and 

 licentiousness. But what man of education and 

 respectability, will settle in a parish school with 

 an income little better than that of a common 



