It is justly stated by Dr. Currie that, at the present day, there is perhaps no country in Europe, in which, in proportion to its population, so small a number of crimes fall under the chastisement of the criminal law, as in Scotland; and he adds, upon undoubted authority, that on an average of thirty years preceding the year, 1797, the executions in that division of the Island did not amount to six annually, and that more felons have been convicted and sentenced to transportation at one quarter sessions for the town of Manchester only, than the average number of persons sentenced to a similar punishment during a whole year by all the Judges of Scotland. [Footnote: Works of Robert Burns, Liverpool 1800. vol. 1. p. 353, 8vo.] But the influence of education in Scotland has not been merely negative or confined to the diminution of criminal offences; it has produced in a very eminent degree those habits of industry and frugality, upon which all civilization and improvement ultimately depend. In no age or country have these excellent qualities, the cardinal virtues of the lower orders of society, been more prevalent than among the peasantry and common people of Scotland during modern times: in none have the instances been more frequent of individuals who, by a course of meritorious exertions, have raised themselves from an inferior condition of life to ease and competence, and sometimes to riches and distinction. It is impossible to conceive any situation more happy and respectable than that of the parent of a well educated family (such as was the father of the subject of this memoir, and such as there are now many others among the farmers and peasantry of Scotland) enjoying the just reward of his paternal cares in the prosperity and success of his children; each of whom he sees engaged in some beneficial pursuit, each bettering his condition in life, and each advanced somewhat in the scale of society above the situation in which he was born. It is this visible _progress_ and continual _improvement_ in the circumstances and condition of families, so frequent in the class here particularly alluded to, which produces the greatest portion of happiness of which any community is capable; which stimulates to intelligent activity, and useful, persevering exertions; and which keeps alive and invigorates that orderly, quiet ambition, which is the foundation of all private and public prosperity, and the great civilizing principle of individuals and nations.