#r/. VII. THE COUNTY OF SlfE. 33* 



rank in society, are not merely fanciful and ima- 

 ginary. They are known to be real, from fact 

 and experience. How many men, descended 

 from the lowest classes, have done honour to 

 themselves, and signal service to their country, 

 by the exertion of talents which, but for the lit- 

 tle school of their native parish, would have re- 

 mained for ever useless and unknown ? 



I have only to add, that the scheme of depriv- 

 ing the lower classes of the means of education, 

 and thereby keeping them in gross ignorance, 

 is inconsistent with the principles of sound po- 

 licy, and, if acted upon, might, in the present 

 state of things, be productive of the most serious 

 mischief to the State. In this idea I am sup- 

 ported by the sentiments of an eminent philoso- 

 pher of the present age. Dr Smith, in his cele- 

 brated Treatise on the Wealth of Nations, ex- 

 presses himself, upon this subject, in the follow- 

 ing words : " A man, without the proper use of 

 the faculties of a man, is, if possible, more con- 

 temptible than even a coward ; and seems to be 

 mutilated and deformed in a still more essential 

 part of the character of human nature. Though 

 the State were to derive no advantage from the 

 instruction of the inferior ranksof people,it would 

 still deserve its attention that they should not-be 

 altogether iininstructed. The State, however, de- 

 rives no inconsiderable advantage from their in- 

 struction. The more they are instructed the less 

 liable they are to the delusions of enthusiasm and 

 superstition, which, among ignorant nations, fre- 

 quently occasion the most dreadful disorders. 

 And instructed and intelligent people, besides, are 

 Tt 2 



