Overpow'r him for a season,

And bedim his clearer reason;
While to heav'n he bows resign'd,
Pleasure and content fhall find.

But all the joy the stately palace boasts,
The glare of titles and the pride of posts,
Are but the meteor's sudden fhort-liv'd ray,
Which mark a while the trav'ller's wilder'd way
Then leaves his steps in sullen darkness bound,
As if it only fhone to fhew the gloom around:
Yet tho' friendship's ample fhield,

Ward off the arrows of despair,
And tho' virtue's plant doth yield
Balm to cure the wounds of care;
Still is my heart devoid of rest,

Till love fhall hold his empire there,
For they alone are truly blest,

Who love's delicious pleasures share.

Sweet is the purple dawn of day,

SIR,

To the Editor of the Bee

I OBSERVE in the fourth number of the present volume of the Bee, page 134, a letter from a country schoolmaster, complaining of the smallness of the income of that class of literary labourers in this country, and suggesting the propriety of augmenting their salaries. As I imagine many well disposed persons, who have not reflected maturely on the subject, will be inclined to concur in opinion with that writer, as I myself once did, I use the freedom to transmit to you a printed paper on this subject, that was handed about some years ago, when this question was agitated in parliament, and I trust your impartiality will induce you to publifh it, for the information of all concerned. I fancy few of your readers have seen it, and L reckon myself fortunate in being able to furnish you with. a copy of it for preservation in your useful miscellany, which I hope will descend to future ages. It contains a full answer to the letter of your correspondent above named; and ought, besides, to serve as a useful caveat, against being hastily misled by false reasoning, to which all mankind are naturally prone, where humanity is interested in the question. ACZ.

Remarks on the petition to parliament, by the schoolmasters in Scotland, for an augmentation of their salaries, anno 1784. "WITHOUT entering into a discussion of the nature of the arguments adduced in support of this proposal; or an examination of the propriety of the mode of procedure they have adopted; or an inquiry into the effects that, would be produced on the different bodies of men from whom the money wanted must be taken, if the prayer of the petition were complied with; or a consideration of

the propriety of the time chosen for making this demand, the present circumstances of the country being attended to; it is only meant, in this essay, to inquire whether the general effects upon the community at large would be beneficial, or the reverse, fhould an augmentation of sala ry be granted to the Scottish schoolmasters.

"Before this point can be properly determined, itappears to me that the two following questions require to bet elucidated.

' '

"First, Is it an advantage to a trading and manufacturing country, to render the acquisition of learning there so easy, as to put it within the reach of the lowest order of its cîtizens, or the reverse?

Second, Will an augmentation of the salaries of the schoolmasters in Scotland, tend to promote the cause of literature in that country, or the reverse ?"

t

(The author, by some forcible arguments, which, as you might think too long for your miscellany, I fhall omit, points out the evil tendency in some cases that results from too great an attention to literature among the lower classes of the people; and then proceeds as under :)

“Let us, however, suppose for the present, that the general diffusion of learning, through all ranks of people, were to prove beneficial to a nation :-We are now to consider, 'Whether an augmentation of the salaries of the schoolmasters in Scotland would tend to promote the cause of literature there, or the reverse?-On this head the following observations naturally occur:

1

“It is an undoubted truth, that the industry of man is always promoted by his wants; especially when that industry, if exerted, has a necefsary tendency to relieve those wants In Scotland, the revenue of a schoolmaster arises in part from his salary, and in part from the fees he draws for teaching If, in these circumstances, he finds it impof

(

1

June za. sible to, subsist upon his salary alone, he will naturally be induced to exert himself as much as pofsible, to obtain scholars, that his prefsing wants may thus be supplied. And as there is no compulsory law for causing parents to send their children to school, he finds, that the only way he can take to augment the number of his scholars, and to obtain the good-will of their parents, is to exert himself to the utmost, in the faithful discharge of his duty as a teacher; well knowing, that if he can succeed in esta, blishing his reputation in the neighbourhood, he will thus not only become a more respectable member of society, but will also have his wants proportionally relieved.—Put the case, however, that instead of a scanty salary, which absolutely requires the aid of his teaching fees to furnish a moderate subsistence to his family, that that salary should be so much augmented, as to enable him, in many cases, to live better without teaching at all, than he can now do even with the afsistance he derives from the fees of his scholars; is it not obvious, that he would not, in this last case, have the same stimulus to exert his industry as in the former?-In this point of view, a moderate salary must necessarily excite the industry of schoolmasters, in a much higher degree than a larger one; and, by consequence, an addition to that salary must tend to discourage the cause of literature, instead of promoting it. In those universitiest where the salaries are high, the profefsors are universally, observed to become indolent. The care of teaching is left to those who choose to undertake it, while the profefsors content themselves with living in ease upon their affluent salaries;-but where the salaries are moderate, as at Edinburgh, the profefsors are under the necefsity of exerting themselves to raise a reputation, and obtain numerous students; because, without the aid of their fees, they could not support themselves with a becoming dignity..

tion

Literature is thus carried to a very high degree of perfec ; nor do we hear any complaints of the lowness of the salaries. This example is so applicable to the case in question, as to require no farther comment.

"Let us now consider the effects of the alteration pfoposed in another light. Would the expence of education, in general, be augmented or diminished thereby that is, would the teaching fees be more moderate than at present, or the reverse? It cannot be supposed that they would be lower-To a poor man, a small matter is an object of much greater consequence than to one who is rich. In the first case, a man might value a fhilling so highly, as to think it no inadequate recompence for his care in teaching a boy for a quarter of an year; and for fear of losing that small emolument, he would do nothing that might justly forfeit the esteem of his parents. In the last, it would appear such a trifle, as to call forth no exertions on the part of the teacher; so that when such fees were offered, the boys would be neglected, and the parents despised; and the same care that is now bestowed for a fhilling, could not then be commanded, perhaps, for a crown.-Instead, therefore, of rendering the acquisition of learning more easy than now, if the incumbents themselves were to teach, it would necefsarily make it become more expensive; and thus, would frustrate the avowed intention of the petition, that of rendering education in Scotland cheap, and bringing learning within the reach of the poor inhabi

tants.

"The teaching of youth is in all cases a laborious task, to which none will ever submit, unless they find their profits to increase with their industry. The profits of teaching, therefore, must be, to every one who effectually engages in this task, an object of great consequence.-To ask whether a small fee will be an object of greater importance to one