V.—Parochial Economy.

Markets, Means of Communication, &c.—There is no regular market for provisions held in the village of Ellon, but, as we have generally one or two resident fleshers, fresh butcher-meat can be procured at all seasons, at least once a week.' Fish also is abundantly supplied from the neighbouring villages of Collieston and Newburgh, the female part of the fishing population carrying them almost daily into all parts of the adjacent country. The other articles usually furnished by a provision market are seldom in demand, as most of the Ellon feuars either occupy as much land as enables them to keep a cow and some poultry, or obtain a ready supply of butter, eggs, &c. from their nearest neighbours. There is a monthly market for black-cattle and grain, which, in the winter season, particularly, is well attended, the Aberdeen butchers drawing a considerable proportion of their supplies from this district, and the sales of grain shipped at Newburgh being chiefly effected at Ellon. In addition to the monthly markets, there are six annual fairs, two of which are held in the village, and the remaining four on a piece of waste ground in the immediate neighbourhood. Some years ago, the Ellon fair, held at Marymas, was one of the most important in the country, and attended by cattle-dealers from the south of Scotland and England ; as at this market the principal surplus stock of the district was annually exposed for sale. The opening up of the London market, however, through the facilities afforded by steam navigation, has given to the cattle trade an entirely new direction, and rendered the business transacted at our country fairs confined, in great measure, to the interchange of stock among home dealers. Two of the fairs above-mentioned are held at the respective terms of Martinmas and Whitsunday, chiefly for the purpose of engaging servants, This system of hiring at markets has been much condemned; but the evils attending it seem to have been exaggerated, as the experience of a few years is found to be sufficient to make the masters and servants of a particular district acquainted with each others characters, and qualified, therefore, to regulate with discrimination their mutual engagements.—In respect of means of communication, the situation of the parish of Ellon is particularly favourable. The village is accommodated with a post-office, —and on the turnpike road from Aberdeen to Peterhead and Fraserburgh, which passes through it, and lies for a distance of four miles within the parish, there is daily a double mail both from south and north. Runners also, either daily or on alternate days, afford a regular means of intercourse with Newburgh, Slains, New Deer, &c. Besides the mail coaches, a stage-coach, which leaves Strichen and Old Deer on alternate mornings, passes through the village to Aberdeen on every lawful day, and returns the same evening. We have two regular carriers to Aberdeen, each of whom makes the journey to the county town twice a-week; and the bridge over the Ythan at Ellon, being as it were the key to the whole Buchan district, weekly communication, by means of carriers travelling to and from Aberdeen, may be had with every part of that district. Ellon is distant from Aberdeen sixteen miles, from Peterhead nearly eighteen, and from Newburgh, the nearest shipping-port, about five or five and a-half, with all which places it is connected by lines of turnpike road. During the last twenty or thirty years, great exertions have been made to improve the condition of the commutation roads, which were formerly much neglected. They are now, for the most part, in a state of good repair, and, in several instances, new lines have been opened up, by which the progress of improvement has been much facilitated. The road money is applied, in every case, with great judgment and economy; and where the sums allocated by the trustees are found to be insufficient for the execution of improvements seen to be necessary, the proprietors, much to their credit, have, in many cases, made temporary advances, without interest, of the amount required, from their own funds. Something, indeed, still remains to be done to put the commutation roads into such a state of improvement as may bring out fully the resources of the parish; but much has been already accomplished, and both proprietors and tenants are now animated by such a sense of the importance of the work as affords the best guarantee that it will not be left in an unfinished state.—The Aberdeen Bank, the Town and County Bank of Aberdeen, and the North of Scotland Bank, which also has its head office in Aberdeen, have each a branch in the village of Ellon. It is understood that a considerable amount of business is transacted at these branches,—a circumstance not to be wondered at when it is kept in mind, that the village constitutes the principal market place of an extensive district of rich country.—The parish is rich in the medical profession, there being three surgeons in the village, and a fourth in the immediate neighbourhood. There are two merchant tailors in the village, each of whom gives regular employment to a considerable number of workmen, two bakers, and several general merchants for groceries, seeds, cloth, &c. some of whom carry on a very extensive business. The number of persons who have licenses to sell spirits is greater than is desirable. It must be remembered, however, that the well frequented roads which pass through the village, render houses of entertainment for different ranks of travellers, matter of absolute necessity.

Ecclesiastical State.—The parish church, which is a very plain erection, quite in the usual style of Scotch country churches, was built in 1777. Although it can boast, however, of no architectural beauty, it is a commodious and comfortable place of worship, having undergone, about twelve or thirteen years ago, a thorough and substantial repair. It is seated for nearly 1200 persons, allowing to each sitter the legal admeasurement; but it can accommodate without much inconvenience a congregation considerably larger, say from 1300 to 1400. In the autumn of 1839 it was tastefully lighted up with gas, by means of which improvement the evening service can now be continued through the whole year.—The church, although it has its site where the population is most dense, does not occupy a central position, its distance from the southern boundary of the parish being at an average only about two miles, while its mean distance from the northern boundary cannot be less than from six to seven. The inconvenience thence arising to the section of the population inhabiting the northern districts of the parish was long severely felt by them ; and, as appears from the Presbytery records, attempts had been made, from time to time, to remedy the evil complained of, by the erection in their neighbourhood of an additional place of worship. What gave greater weight to this proposal, and rendered all parties more anxious to have it carried into effect, was the circumstance, that the inhabitants of the adjoining districts of the parishes of Deer, New Deer, and Tarves were subjected to a like inconvenience, being equally distant from their respective parish churches. Accordingly, when in 1834, prospects were held forth by the establishment of a Church Extension Committee, that the church was disposed to make a vigorous effort to provide for the growing spiritual destitution of the community, the proposal above alluded to, which had been kept in abeyance only by the want of the requisite means for carrying it into effect, was again taken up by the parties more immediately interested, with redoubled energy. Their efforts were at length crowned with success, and by subscriptions raised in the destitute districts, by collections made through almost all the parishes of the presbyteries of Deer and Ellon, and by liberal donations received from the heritors, together with a grant of L.140 made by the Church Extension Committee, sufficient funds were provided for erecting, on a convenient site, a neat and substantial church, capable of containing from 600 to 700 sitters. The new church was opened for public worship in December 1834, and, though means have not yet been obtained for the maintenance of an ordained clergyman, the services of the sanctuary have ever since been regularly administered to a large and respectable congregation. On every third Sabbath day, the pulpit is filled by the minister of one of the parishes more immediately benefited by the new erection, while it is occupied on the intervening Sabbaths by a probationer resident in the neighbourhood. The sacrament of our Lord's Supper has been annually dispensed in the new church, for the last four years, by authority of the Presbyteries of Deer and Ellon, and the number of persons who partook of the ordinance in 1840 was upwards of 500. The writer is not aware that the ordinary attendance at the original parish churches, though the number of communicants of course is not so great as formerly, has been sensibly diminished.— The sittings in the parish church, with the exception of the minister's pew, are exclusively in the hands of the heritors or their tenants. No sittings in the parish church are let. The sittings in the new church above spoken of are let annually at a rate varying from 1s. 6d. to 4s. The seat rents, as the collections are applied exclusively for the relief of the poor, constitute the only fund available at the present time for defraying the expense of public ordinances.

The manse of Ellon was repaired and enlarged by the addition of two public rooms, a bed closet, kitchen, and sleeping apartments for servants, in 1826. It is now probably, in point both of comfort and accommodation, one of the best manses in the country. Though but a little way removed from the village, yet an intervening screen of Huntingdon willows gives to the grounds within the gate an appearance quite secluded and rural. The situation, for this part of the country, may be considered beautiful. It stands on a bank sloping to the Ythan, the intermediate ground between it and the river being laid out as garden. The offices also are sufficiently commodious and in good repair.

Theglebe, inclusive of the garden, may extend to about six Scotch acres. From its proximity to the village, although the soil is not in general of first rate quality, it would probably yield an annual rent of from L. 18 to L. 20. The stipend, as modified in 1823, amounts to sixteen chalders of grain, half barley half meal, payable by the fiar prices of the county, with an allowance of L. 10 for communion elements. The barley is estimated by the Linlithgow measure. The teinds, which belong to the heritors, may amount on an average of years to the value of L.800 per annum.

The patronage of the church belongs to the Earl of Aberdeen.

According to the census, already repeatedly adverted to, the distribution of the population with reference to religious communion stands as follows:

Number of Episcopalians, 147
Independents, 47
Roman Catholics, 1

There is a neat Episcopalian place of worship in the neighbour-hood of the village, capable of accommodating a congregation of from 300 to 400. Many Episcopalians belonging to the neighbouring parishes attend public ordinances at Ellon. The United Secession and Independents have also each a place of worship in the village, but the Independent church has not enjoyed the services of a resident clergyman for the last four or five years. The number of persons who, on an average of years, actually partake of the Lord's supper in the Established Church is about 1120; and, making an allowance for sickness, the infirmities of age, and other casualties, the total number of adults in full communion with the Church of Scotland will not fall much below 1200.

Education.—There are two parochial schools in the parish, both of which, and particularly the principal one, which has its site in the village, and at which the attendance is more regular, are conducted according to the most improved system of education, and with great ability and efficiency on the part of the teachers. The parochial school in the village is generally attended by upwards of 100 pupils, and the numbers, though somewhat less in summer than during the winter months, are, on the whole, more steady and uniform than is usual in country schools. At the other parochial school, which is placed in the northern district of the parish, at a distance of about four miles from the village, the attendance is far less regular, the number of pupils varying frond thirty to sixty, according to the season of the year. What has been termed the intellectual system of education has been adopted in both schools with such modifications of the plans usually followed, as the judgment of the teachers, enlightened by a practical acquaintance with the peculiar circumstances of a country school, have led them to approve. It is an object uniformly kept in view by the teachers, to call into exercise on the part of their pupils, the powers of reflection and judgment. A great proportion of that class of scholars in both schools, whose education was limited only a few years ago to the elementary branches of reading, writing; and the fundamental rules of arithmetic, are now instructed, and, in many cases, make great proficiency, in the higher departments of English grammar and geography. Indeed, an avidity for a knowledge of the subjects last mentioned seems to pervade all classes of the pupils; and such knowledge is happily beginning in consequence to be more and more regarded by the public at large, as an essential element of even the most ordinary education. Besides geography, and English grammar, geometry, practical mathematics, Latin, and, in some instances, the elements of Greek and French, are taught in the parochial schools. Both the parochial teachers are well qualified to give lessons in all these branches; but instruction in the higher departments last adverted to is seldom required, save in the original parish school. Religious instruction is carefully attended to in both schools; and Sabbath schools, for promoting the same object, are taught by each of the parochial schoolmasters for eight months of the year. The Sabbath schools are well attended, and the improvement of the young in religious knowledge, and, it is hoped, in a just sense also of the infinite importance of Divine things, has been much advanced by them. Mr Lillie, as master of the original parish school, has a house and garden. He enjoys the maximum salary, and receives, it is believed, from the Trustees of the Dick Bequest, the allowance awarded by them to their highest class of teachers. His school fees may amount to about L.40 per annum, and his gross yearly emoluments, therefore, will be upwards of L.100. The second parochial schoolmaster has only the minimum salary, and, to make up even this allowance, the annual value of his accommodations requires to be taken into account. Though, at the examination instituted by the Trustees of the Dick Bequest, for entrant schoolmasters in the three counties entitled to the benefit of their fund, he was found to be the first man of his year, yet, as the limited numbers attending his school have an effect, in terms of the regulations adopted by that body, in reducing the allowance to be awarded to him, his emoluments, from the same, do not probably exceed an annual sum of L.30. His school fees may be estimated at L.20 additional, so that his gross income, exclusive of the value of accommodations, will be somewhere about L.70 per annum.

In addition to the two parochial schools, there are four schools in the parish, taught by individuals, for the most part on their own adventure; and a fifth seminary, of the same character, on the boundary of the parishes of Ellon and Methlick, which draws, however, the principal part of its attendance from the parish of Ellon. Two of these schools are taught by males, and three by females. All the teachers, with the exception of one female, who is an Episcopalian, are members of the Established Church. The gross number of pupils attending the non-parochial schools may be about 200. Two of the schools in question, namely, that on the boundary of the parishes of Ellon and Methlick, which is taught by a male, and the female school, in the village of Ellon, each of which schools has a partial, though very inadequate endowment, are remarkably well conducted. The others, though less efficiently taught, are attended with much advantage to their respective neighbourhoods, as they afford, in their several localities, elementary instruction to children, whose tender age renders them incapable of reaching a more distant seminary. Even in the inferior schools, there is no falling off in the care bestowed on the religious instruction of the pupils. In some schools of this class, indeed, the Scriptures and the Shorter Catechism constitute, as of old, the only school books. While, however, regard being had to the amount of good thus effected by teachers who receive no adequate remuneration for their labours, it would be unbecoming, and almost unchristian, to speak of the seminaries conducted by them in terms of disparagement; yet, there can be no question, that many of their more advanced pupils would derive greater benefit from attendance at an efficiently taught parochial school. Entertaining this view, the writer is happy in being able to state that, through the munificent bequest of the late Mr Garden of Ardlethem, means will soon be forthcoming for erecting, in a suitable locality, and under such management as affords the best guarantee for its permanent efficiency, an additional endowed, if not, parochial school.

The proportion of the population engaged in the business of education, if we take as the data for our estimate, the numbers, at any one time, in actual attendance at school, will be found to be about one-eighth part of the whole amount. But, as many of the poorer children attend school only during the winter half year» being employed in summer in the herding of cattle, &c, the gross number of pupils enrolled, in the course of twelve months, will bear a considerably larger proportion to the entire population. The proportion, in the latter case, will be such, indeed, as to afford a reasonable ground of hope, that no individual of the rising generation is suffered to grow up altogether destitute of the merely elementary attainments of reading and writing. Still, the irregular attendance at school of the children of the poorer classes of society is much to be deplored, as it breaks their habits of attention, and interrupts that salutary course of moral and religious training in which, much more than in the superficial attainments above-mentioned, the value of a good education consists.

But while the imperfect education of the poorer classes, arising from irregular attendance at school, &c. cannot but prove prejudicial to their interests in after life, nor fail to exert, where its natural consequences are not averted, a pernicious influence on their religious and moral condition, it seems questionable, in taking a comprehensive view of the present state of society, whether the more complete education enjoyed by persons in less depressed circumstances be attended with all the beneficial consequences that ought to result from it. That the cultivation of the intellectual powers of the human mind has attained, in respect of the great body of society, a higher degree of eminence than what it occupied at any former period of history, cannot be denied ; but it certainly is not to be inferred, from any data afforded by the existing state of things, that society has undergone a corresponding improvement in the higher departments of religion and morals. On the contrary, the opinion is daily gaining ground, and seems to have a foundation in truth, that in these all-important respects, at least a very large section of the social body has become deteriorated. Indeed, no intelligent observer of men and manners can fail to remark the growing prevalence of a sensuous philosophy, inconsistent alike with that stern self-respect, and that high resolve of unconquerable faith which formed the characteristic features of the olden time. How far the prevalence of this philosophy is attributable to the changes which have been effected in the system of education, or to other cognate causes, we shall most readily discover by instituting a comparison between the character of the education formerly in use and that of the course of instruction which, in more recent times, has supplied its place. Education, in its just and most comprehensive sense, respects the whole course of human existence. The process of evolution implied by it, which is merely begun at school, is carried forward in the case of each individual with more or less happy consequences, according to circumstances, down to the period of his dissolution. It is only by regarding education in this extended point of view, that we can form a due estimate of its importance, or appreciate, even with tolerable accuracy, its influence on national character. Looking, then, at the process of education in the comprehensive range now assigned to it, there are two remarkable features of that process, as it was developed and wrought out at former periods of our history, which cannot fail to arrest our attention. The first important feature that distinguished the ordinary education of former times was impressed upon it by the circumstance, that almost the only school books then in use were the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. The second, which is of kindred character, it received from the yet more influential circumstance, that the same Scriptures, or other religious works, having for their object the illustration and practical enforcement of scriptural truth, furnished the principal mental food of maturer years. Admitting, then, that the powers of the understanding might not, in the schools of former ages, be so vigorously exercised as they now are, yet, under the system of tuition which has just been pointed out, it seems impossible, that the heart should not have received early impressions of the most valuable character: and these impressions once made, must, in as far as the studies of a riper age could have influenced them, have continued indelible, since it was the natural effect of those studies not to efface but to deepen the engraving originally furrowed out. The consequence would be, that the whole man, gradually becoming illumined by the light of scriptural truth, would almost necessarily be led to contemplate, through the medium of that light, both the phenomena of nature and the events of life. Now, as it has been justly remarked, that the Bible, overlooking secondary causes, interposes, for the effecting of every change, the right hand of the Most High, a man thus educated would feel himself to be ever in a spiritual presence, and to be surrounded on all sides by those mysterious influences of which it may be affirmed, that, as the sense of them manifests the necessity, so does it constitute the strength of faith. Though such a man might be ignorant of much that is now held essential to a finished education, and of much that, when kept in the subordinate place which properly belongs to it, is truly valuable, as opening up new traces of the wisdom and goodness of God,—yet, in the conscious feeling of an ever-present Deity, in the fervent cherishing of that abiding sense of dependence on the Divine strength, which such a feeling inspires, and in the grateful recognition of those mysterious ties, which, through a common God and a common Saviour, bind in the "bonds of an everlasting brotherhood, man to his fellow man, he must have drunk deep at the fountain of that better lore which gives to the human soul its highest dignity, and which fits it both for acting and for suffering, whatever may be the circumstances in which it is placed, in a manner worthy of its immortal destiny. Hence, that high moral and religious bearing, and that manly firmness and strength of character which distinguished both the burghers and peasantry of the olden time, are explicable on principles, which approve themselves to enlightened reason, as the soil on which such fruits might be expected to be matured.

But now in modern education, the prominent qualities of which we have been speaking, and to which consequences so important have been traced, will, in many instances, be looked for in vain. With reference, indeed, to the elementary instruction of the parochial school, we have not to complain, either that the Bible has become a sealed book, or that the Bible lesson is negligently taught. The Bible, on the contrary, is still a school-book; and justice to that most valuable body of men, the parochial schoolmasters of Scotland, renders it our imperative duty to state, that, with no exception of which we are aware, due pains is bestowed by them, at the daily reading of the Scriptural lesson, in impressing upon their pupils the instructions which it conveys. But as the Bible is now but one of many school-books, and as the time that can be allotted for the reading of the scriptural lesson is necessarily limited, it becomes a most important subject of inquiry, whether the other treatises usually studied at school harmonize with the principles of Divine truth. And, for the establishment of such a harmony in this respect as the nature of the case requires, it is obviously not sufficient that the treatises in question contain nothing of a character positively anti-scriptural. Articles on biography, natural and civil history, physical science, arts and manufactures, ethical philosophy, &c. can easily be conceived chargeable with no offensive opposition to revealed truth, while it is yet their direct and necessary tendency to keep its doctrines in the back-ground, and to exclude from the mind of the learner all distinct recognition of an observant and overruling Providence. A course of reading composed of such articles can scarcely fail, particularly in the case of the young, to be attended with consequences extremely prejudicial; it puts man in the place of God; represents physical and even moral changes as abstracted from all but secondary causes, and thus, by excluding, or, at least, failing to recognize, the agency of that only living and vivifying power, which hath impressed on the worlds, both of mind and matter, their respective laws, builds up, imperceptibly indeed, but not therefore with less fatal success, the impious superstructure of a cold, earthly, and sensuous philosophy. In the course of reading now adverted to, which has obviously no tendency to stir up those deep and mysterious sympathies of the heart which make man conscious of his spiritual relationship, and impart to him the first taste of living wisdom,—the exercise of the merely intellectual powers of pupils will serve only to aggravate the evil, as the knowledge to be derived from such a source is that knowledge destitute of charity, which the Scriptures emphatically designate as the knowledge that puffeth up. It is admitted that an education so conducted may be attended, if we regard it in a merely temporal point of view, with considerable advantages. The knowledge which it supplies may extend commerce, improve manufactures, and furnish to the blind votary of wealth the accomplishments requisite for success in his pursuit. But it is not less true, on the other hand, that both the principles on which such an education is based, and the spirit which it breathes, stand diametrically opposed to the spirit and principles of the word of God, tending to efface from the mind all practical remembrance of Divine truth, and to make the heart hard as steel against every nobler affection and sympathy of our nature.

Where, then, in the business of education, the school-books conjoined with the Bible are of the character above described, the salutary impressions which the scriptural morning lesson might make on the minds of pupils will be almost necessarily obliterated by the uncongenial course of study, which forms the occupation of the subsequent part of the day. In such circumstances, the Bible lesson will be an isolated task, from which, impelled by the natural aversion of the carnal mind to spiritual things, the scholar will gladly make his escape to studies that, from their being conversant with sensible objects, from their supplying at less expense of thought, a less valuable, yet a more tangible and showy knowledge; and, above all, from their promising to promote more directly his views in life, he will regard with feelings of a livelier interest. In an education so conducted, although the religious instruction" of his pupils shall be carefully attended to on the part of the teacher, religious impressions of a permanent character cannot be expected to be stamped upon their minds; and hence, when their attendance at school has terminated, they will have to launch forth upon the troubled stream of active life with no fixed principle to guide their course.

It may be true that, even when the Scriptures were almost the only school-book in use, the principles of many on the termination of their school career had yet to be fixed; but admitting this assumption to be well founded, still the circumstances in which the youth of a former age were subsequently placed, were infinitely more favourable than are those furnished by the present state of society for deepening and confirming the religious impressions of early years. It has been already stated, that the Scriptures, at the period referred to, were not merely the only school-book, but formed also, in conjunction with treatises of kindred character, at least to the great body of the people, the chief subject of the study of mature life. On the magnitude and importance of the change which, in respect of the circumstance last mentioned, society, as now constituted, presents, it would be a mere waste of time to offer many observations. The fact is notorious, that the country is deluged with publications, some of which are conceived in a spirit of positive hostility to the principles of religion, and of which others again, though not directly of an irreligious character, are yet calculated, either to call off our attention from Divine things, or insidiously to substitute views of our present condition and future destinies, inconsistent with the views maintained on such subjects in the volume of inspired truth. Nor is it matter of less notoriety, that the publications in question, which are written, for the most part, in a style peculiarly captivating, attract a large share of public attention, and particularly from that class of the community whose youth and inexperience render them in an especial degree susceptible of new impressions.—Another element which, in modern times, is highly favourable to the growth of a sensuous philosophy, and noxious, therefore, in a like degree, to the best interests of religion, is to be found in the unceasing turmoil and bustle necessarily attendant on the greatly extended range of our commercial and manufacturing interests. The many fluctuations to which these interests are liable, the unremitting attention required for the successful prosecution of them, and, though last, not least, the congregating in one place of the myriads of human beings to whom they give employment, have all a natural tendency to incapacitate the mind for the serious and sustained reflection on spiritual things essential to the advancement of vital religion, and to rivet its powers of attention on the ever-changing aspect of passing events. The extent to which the element now mentioned, or the publications formerly adverted to, issued as they are in monthly, weekly, and even daily shoals, from an ever-teeming press, actually exert an unfavourable influence on the religious sentiments of the community, it would not be easy to overrate. That it must be very great, and that, in consequence, the present condition of society is calculated much more to weaken than to confirm the religious impressions received in early years, are facts which, it is presumed, no impartial observer will feel disposed to call in question.

Such, then, being the bearings on religion of the actual state of society, the character of the education tendered to the young obviously acquires an immeasurably increased importance, since it is evident that it is only an education thoroughly religious that can apply to the evils above pointed out an effectual remedy. Works of noxious tendency will then only cease to be poured forth from the press, when, through the abiding influence of early religious impressions, there shall have been eradicated from the public mind the depraved appetites which they now pamper; and then only will the evils necessarily incident to the extended range of our commercial and manufacturing interests be successfully counteracted, when the principles of those occupied with them shall have been previously established on the solid foundation of a scriptural, rational, and practical religion.

The all-important question then comes to be,—is the system of education now commonly pursued, calculated to meet the emergency which has arisen, and so to fix the religious principles of the young as to steel their hearts against the corrupting influences to which in after years they will have to stand exposed ? It were well, indeed, if this question could be answered in the affirmative; but the undeniable fact, that the religious education of youth has never commanded even a tithe of the attention to which its paramount importance so justly entitles it, forbids us to indulge the hope that such an answer can with truth be returned. In fact, so little importance has been attached to the department of religious instruction, that numerous instances are not wanting, more particularly of late years, in which attempts have been made to have it authoritatively excluded from the school curriculum. Of seminaries constituted on such a principle of exclusion, which happily, however, are not yet to be found in this part of the empire, it may be sufficient to remark, that, as the basis on which they are established affords the surest indication of the actual prevalence of the evils which it is the proper business of education to counteract and extirpate, so the only result that can be reasonably anticipated from them is the farther development of such evils in an aggravated form.

But, omitting all notice of seminaries, of a constitution so utterly preposterous, there is reason to apprehend, as has been already hinted, that in schools of a better character, and even in our parochial schools themselves, religious instruction is not interwoven in such a manner with the whole business of education, as an enlightened regard to the establishment and confirmation of sound principles of religion in the minds of the pupils seems obviously to require. It is believed, that in all our schools, without exception, the course of instruction pursued, is, in respect of this important matter, disjointed and fragmentary. Religion, indeed, in the schools more immediately under notice, is not an excluded branch of knowledge, nor in such schools is the place assigned to religious instruction, strictly so called, that is, to the exposition of the daily scriptural lesson, less prominent than, from the multifarious subjects to which a parochial schoolmaster must give his attention, it might be expected to be. The true ground of complaint is, that it occupies, amidst the general business of the day, an isolated position; that it blends not its sacred truths with the system of education considered as a whole; in short, that there is not stamped upon the entire course of instruction followed the genuine impress of a religious character. The remark, that religion holds, in modern systems of education, an isolated place, is to be taken, of course, with greater or less latitude, according to circumstances. Perhaps few school-books are to be met with, in which there may not be found occasional pieces, conceived in a scriptural spirit, and calculated to impress the reader with sound views of scriptural truth. But it is believed that the number of such works is still more limited, in the compilation or composition of which, particularly with regard to those of them intended for the use of more advanced pupils, the hand of an enlightened Christian philosophy has been steadily at work, in culling from the fields of science, history, literature, &c. such views of God, of nature, and of our common humanity, as, breathing the genuine spirit of revealed truth, might build up, in harmonious combination with intellectual excellence, the living temple of a moral and religious, and therefore truly noble and manly, character. The descriptions of processes of art and manufacture, the superficial statements of the naked results of scientific inquiry, and the many other articles of a like flimsy and purely mechanical character, with which our school-books now abound, would seem to have been drawn up almost for the express purpose of communicating that smattering of knowledge which is ever the ready minister of pride and vain-glory. We would not, indeed, have the knowledge which these articles convey left untaught, but we would have it taught in such a manner, as, by connecting it with the well-head or fountain whence it originally sprung,—with the many years of patient and persevering toil of which it was the reward,—and with the views which it unfolds, alike of creative wisdom and goodness, and of a constantly superintending and sustaining Providence,— should impress the mind of the pupil with a deep sense of his own ignorance and nothingness, and lead him to discern, both in the constitution of nature itself, and in the discoveries of that constitution vouchsafed to man, the gracious interpositions of an ever-present Deity. How often, again, are the short historical and biographical articles, which appear in our school-books, of a character as remote as possible from harmonizing with the spirit and principles of Divine truth, and how powerfully must they tend, therefore, in the case of the young, to weaken the force of religious impressions, and to give to the inexperienced mind the direction and bent of a practical infidelity ! Yet the events of history are many, and strikingly impressive, from which, without incurring any danger of judging presumptuously of the workings of Providence in human affairs, a master mind in literature, which should be also thoroughly imbued with the sound principles of a living Christian philosophy, might extract lessons for the young of the highest practical religious importance; and the altogether preeminent services, which, under the like auspices, might be rendered to the cause of education, by the still more productive field of biography, must forcibly present themselves to every re-fleeting mind. What examples of the purest and most disinterested patriotism, of the loftiest moral bearing, and of the most imposing attainments in the walks of literature and science, might be furnished by the annals even of our own country, illustrated and infinitely enhanced in value, by being found in conjunction with the humility characteristic of an ardent piety, and with the inflexible devotedness of the faith which worketh by love ! Who shall estimate the happy effects that might result to the youthful mind, were it, through the instrumentality of Christian genius, to be made conversant from its earliest years with examples so admirably calculated by their nature, beauty, and excellence, both to arrest its attention, and to form its character! It is easy to see, also, how poetry, and its sister art of music, for the employment of which in the work of education we have the authoritative example of God himself, might be brought to blend in entire harmony with the elements above-mentioned, in moulding, according to the Scriptural pattern, the dispositions and principles of the rising generation. These departments have heretofore been all but neglected; and hence are we supplied with another cause of the inadequate moral and religious tendencies of the system of education now in use.

If, then, our educational institutions are thus imperfect, in respect of the highest objects which the education of responsible beings ought to contemplate, while, at the same time, the corrupting influences to which, on leaving school, the minds of the young are exposed, have been greatly increased, both in number and intensity, we shall cease to wonder that society presents an unsettled and disjointed appearance, and that its prospects are becoming daily of a more gloomy and alarming character. For the evils under which we labour, and for the still greater evils with which we are threatened, the defective state of our educational system affords, in the circumstances in which we are placed, both an obvious and adequate cause; and hence the subjects of inquiry which present themselves are, 1st, What steps are to be taken for the removal of the defects with which our present system of education is chargeable? and, 2d, Who are the parties more immediately called on to perfect and apply such remedial measures as may be requisite?

On the first of these subjects of inquiry the narrow limits here assigned to us forbid us to add to the observations already offered. It evidently follows from these observations, that, while it would be no longer proper, even if it were possible, to limit the course of reading in schools to the inspired volume, the spirit and principles of this volume ought, nevertheless, to be intimately blended with the whole course of instruction pursued, and to communicate to every part of that course a decidedly religious tendency. What it has been our uniform purpose to show is, that the scientific, literary, and other secular information, now communicated in our schools, should have infused into it the vivifying spirit of a genuine Christianity, and that it ought ever to be the primary object of education, to which all merely secular views should hold a subordinate place, to build up the moral and religious man. To a due regard to this primary object, however, it is by no means requisite that the secular branches of education should be less efficiently taught than they now are, or that the course of instruction in our schools should be rendered in consequence less adapted to the business of secular avocations; but only that all secular knowledge should be grafted upon the stock of religious truth, and caused thus to manifest in its farther development the pervading influence of that better knowledge, which, whatever our secular pursuits may be, is essential to the dignity of our calling as men. It is allowed, that, for the perfecting in detail of a system of education, based on the principles now adverted to, and particularly that for the composition of school books, constructed in just conformity to these principles,—calculated, moreover, to rouse and sustain the interest of the youthful mind, and embracing, at the same time, the wide range of subjects, some knowledge of which is at the present day held to be essential, even to a good school education, a combination of genius, talent, and acquirement is requisite, such as is to be expected only in the most gifted and cultivated of our race. The amount of merely secular knowledge required it might not indeed be very difficult to obtain ; but that intimate acquaintance with the constitution of the human mind, that profound practical insight into the genius and spirit of our most holy faith, and that fine perception of the analogies subsisting between natural and revealed truth, which are essentially necessary to the working up, into attractive forms, instinct with spiritual religion, of the raw materials which secular knowledge provides, obviously imply the possession of a very high order both of capacity and cultivation.

Unquestionably, with reference to our second topic of inquiry, the Established Church is the party which is bound, by considerations of the highest possible moment, to use its best energies in devising, perfecting, and applying an effectual remedy. The duties of the presbyteries of the Church, in visiting and examining the schools within their respective bounds, have generally been performed, it may be admitted, with sufficient fidelity; and it is due also to the General Assembly to state, that it has displayed of late years a most praiseworthy zeal in increasing the means of education in districts heretofore inadequately supplied with them. But an effective superintendence of the education of a country implies, not merely a periodical inspection of its schools, or, as circumstances may require, an occasional increase of their number, but a regard also to the perfecting of the instruction which it is their object to communicate. It is here that our national Church appears to us to be called on to make still farther exertions. Physical science has been unremitting in the prosecution of its discoveries, and year after year have new harvests of physical truth been presented to the public mind, clothed in the most attractive and popular forms; the periodical and daily press also has opened up to all classes of the community an extended acquaintance with arts, manufactures, commerce, &c, and involved them, moreover, in intricate discussions regarding the principles of government, and other subjects of a like abstract character, while yet comparatively nothing has been done by the Church to impregnate, through the medium of education, the new truths thus brought to bear on society with a religious spirit and tendency. That it is the imperative duty of our National Church to take care, not only that the interests of religion be protected from aggression, but also that the whole progress of society be rendered subservient to the advancement of those interests, cannot for a moment be disputed. Would the General Assembly once take up the subject with a spirit of earnestness and determination commensurate to its infinite importance,—would they unfold to the people of Scotland, in an affectionate pastoral address, a clear and comprehensive idea of an education adapted to the present advanced state of secular knowledge, which, by imbuing every department of that knowledge with the genuine spirit of a living Christianity, should thus render it in the highest degree instrumental in evolving and perfecting, both for the business of time and the enjoyments of eternity, the whole powers and capacities of man's intellectual, moral, and spiritual being;—it may be safely predicted that, for the accomplishment of so truly great and glorious a work, there would forthwith be supplied, with unhesitating readiness, both adequate pecuniary resources,—the grateful offering of an enlightened Christian sympathy,—and the assiduous and persevering efforts of the most richly endued Christian genius. In such a state of things, opposition would be constrained to yield to the irresistible force of Divine truth; in the light of this truth, prejudice, ashamed, would hide its head; and thus religious education, having its intrinsic worth once clearly revealed to the public eye, would go forth with the prayers of a united church, and with the rich blessing of the God of all grace, conquering and to conquer.

Friendly Societies.—There are three Friendly Societies in the parish,—in some respects variously constituted, but having, as their general object, the payment of small annuities to the widows of deceased members, and of a limited allowance in cases of sickness to members whose circumstances require such aid. Two of these societies also make a small allowance for defraying the funeral expenses of deceased members. The average annual disbursement of all the three, for the years 1838, 1839, and 1840, amounted to upwards of L.84. These Societies appear to be well conducted, and they have proved in many cases, eminently serviceable to the poorer classes of the community.

Savings Bank.—A savings bank, in terms of the acts of Parliament regulating such institutions, was established here in November 1839. The operations of the bank extend to several of the adjoining parishes; as the village of Ellon, from its central situation, is found to be a convenient place for the transaction of business. The sums deposited in the bank from the parish of Ellon alone amounted, in May 1840, to nearly L.1100. The amount of sums withdrawn, from the commencement of the institution, up to the same date, was something less than L. 160. The savings bank promises to answer well the purposes of its institution. Many individuals of the working classes have now deposits to a very considerable amount; and the circumstance, that all sums, however small, are receivable, evidently tends to foster among them habits of foresight and economy.

Poor and Parochial Funds.—There are usually about 40 persons who receive a stated allowance out of the funds for the poor, at an average rate, when they are not bedrid or peculiarly in-firm, of from L. 1, 10s. to L.2 per annum. In the case of bedrid paupers, or widows who have been left in destitute circumstances with large families, a weekly allowance is made, varying, according to the exigencies of the case, from 2s. to 4s., and even 5s. Of late years there has been an unusually large number of such cases in the pa* rish, which, of course, has pressed with proportional severity on the funds. There is from time to time, also, particularly in the winter season, a considerable number of occasional paupers who require temporary supplies from the kirk-session. In the se-vere winters of 1838 and 1839, when day-labourers were thrown out of work for many weeks, a serious inroad was made on the permanent funds of the session, the expenditure having for each of these years exceeded the income by about L.50.

The ordinary collections made in the church throughout the year average nearly L.90, which, with an extraordinary collection made annually for the pauper lunatic fund, will make the whole sum collected for the poor, in the course of twelvemonths, amount to about L.95. The permanent funds belonging to the kirk-session are upwards of L.300 ; but the amount cannot be stated with perfect accuracy, from the circumstance that part of them was long ago vested in house property in Aberdeen, which is of uncertain value. The annual return from the permanent funds, inclusive of a mortgage of L.20 Scots on a small field adjoining the village, may be stated at from L.14 to L.15; thus making the amount of the whole sum annually available for the relief of the poor, and for the payment of the session clerk's and kirk officer's fees, about L.110.

In 1838, on account of the peculiar severity of the season, small donations were received from most of the heritors in aid of the funds of the kirk-session, amounting in all to L.25; but in this part of the country such contributions have seldom been had recourse to, except at periods of more than ordinary difficulty. There can be no question, however, that, even in country parishes, the difficulty of making a suitable provision for the wants of the poor, by the ordinary methods of collection, &c. is rapidly increasing; and that the period is not far distant when the subject of pauperism must force itself more prominently on public attention. Indeed, in the case of large towns, this period appears to have already arrived. A hope, however, may be entertained, that, with the fatal example of the large manufacturing towns before them, the heritors of country parishes will be roused to provide effectual means for the moral and religious education of every child that may be trained up upon their estates, and to see also that the means so provided be diligently and faithfully applied to the object in view. The writer has no wish that heritors should assess themselves in large sums for the actual maintenance of the poor, as he conceives that this maintenance should always be partly dependent on the voluntary charity of a Christian neighbourhood; but he has long been deeply impressed with the opinion, that they might do incalculable good, at a cost altogether trifling, by assisting the poor labourer in the education of his family, and by giving it to be distinctly understood, that any of their dependents who should ne-gleet to have his children instructed, the means of education being within his reach, must incur, by such neglect, their serious displeasure. Were the education of the families of their dependents to be thus attended to by the higher classes of society,—were it made known over an estate, for example, that, while the proprietor would willingly give assistance to all that should be ascertained to stand in need of it, he would positively expect that the children of every family resident upon his domain should receive the benefit of a thorough grounding in at least the elementary branches of education, and, more particularly, in the fundamental doctrines and precepts of our holy religion;—and were he to direct his tenantry to keep a watchful eye, in regard to this all important matter, over their hinds and cottars, that man is but little acquainted with the state of society in our country parishes, or rather with the genuine feelings of our common humanity, who could hesitate to anticipate, that, by the blessing of God upon such an order of things, it would be attended with consequences of the. most beneficial character. If pauperism is to be traced in too many instances to the early formation of idle and dissipated habits, we may hold it to be impossible, on the broad principles of a well-ascertained experience, that such an order and discipline as that to which we have adverted, should not exert the most salutary influence in repelling the inroads of this formidable evil.