opportunity of learning the rudiments of the Latin or French language; and those boys who are intended for the fea fervice are taught the general principles of geography, navigation, and drawing.

RAINE'S CHARITIES, St. George's in the Eaft. Henry Raine, Efq. the founder of this inftitution, having acquired a confiderable eftate confifting chiefly of freehold eftates in the parish and neighbourhood of St. George in the Eaft, where he had been bred up from childhood and then refided, and having affifted his relations, who were then in profperity and no longer needed his protection, conceived it a duty of gratitude to Providence, and obedience to the precepts of Chriftianity, to fettle part of his substance for charitable purposes. With this view he contributed and added to those contributions as his eftate increased; and afterwards built two commodious large schools in Fawdon-fields, in that parish, about the year 1719, and fettled regulations for their management. On the 22d of June 1736, he executed a conveyance to the Rev. Dr. William Simpson, the rector, and four other gentlemen, in order to make provision for the maintenance, fupport, and inftruction of fifty boys and fifty girls, and for the habitation of a master and mistress. By his will he added to his former donations, and made a fingular provifion for bestowing annually, on one girl of fix who fhould in the course of the year leave the fchool, with proper certificates of regularity, and exact observance of religious duties, 100l. as a marriage portion, to be paid on her wedding day. The female to whom the donation is given, becomes entitled to it by drawing, a lot, and on the day of wedding, which is always on the firft of May, 51. in addition to the portion is spent for a dinner.

SUNDAY SCHOOL SOCIETY. To promote the defign of administering religious inftruction to children of the poor on the Sabbath-day, instead of their being fuffered to waste it as a holiday in thoughtless idlenefs, Robert Raikes, Efq. of Painfwic, in Gloucestershire, first suggested and put in practice a Sunday school in his own district, and under his own infpection: his fuccefs foon induced others to follow the example. Towns and villages established their schools, and their importance excited a ready liberality towards their fupport; but many of these were fet up in very fmall dif tricts, remote from either the county town or the metropolis, and the want of patronage threatened their discontinuThe benevolence of the capital was therefore folicited for their encouragement and preservation, and for the fupply of fuch books as were neceffary toward their progrefs. In

ance.

the

the year 1785, therefore, the Sunday School Society was established in London. The plan is to promote by correfpondence and effectual communication the establishment of Sunday schools in the country, to induce the opulent inhabitants to vifit and fuperintend them, to folicit fubfcriptions for them, and to fuggeft improvements; to provide Bibles, Testaments, and spelling-books, for the use of the scholars; to direct that all the fcholars attend fome place of public worship every Sunday, as their parents may approve, clean and decent in their dress and behaviour; and during the intervals of the day, that they be taught to read the Bible and to learn the principles of the chriftian faith. The fuccefs of the inftitution has extended it through England, Wales, Ireland, and the adjacent islands. The objects of this charity are poor perfons of each sex and of any age; their teachers, by the directions of the committee, or of their correfpondents, oblige all who are committed to their care to attend public worship, unless prevented by illness or any other fufficient cause they also take care that their scholars are clean, and if any of them are guilty of lying, fwearing, pilfering, and talking in an indecent manner, or otherwife mifbehave themfelves, they are to reprove them; and, if after repeated reproof, they are not reformed, they are difmiffed from the fchool. The religious obfervation of the Chriftian Sabbath being an effential object with this fociety, the exercises of the scholars on that day are restricted to reading in the Old and New Teftament, and to fpelling, as a preparative for it. This is the fummary of the regulations of each school, which the teacher reads to them on the first Sunday in every month. During the first fourteen years which this fociety existed 2,917 schools were established, and 246,724 scholars inftructed in them, and the books distributed were 249,896 fpelling-books, 55,881 Teftaments, and 7,423 Bibles, and to fuch schools as needed pecuniary affiftance the sum of 4,165/. 125. 5d. was advanced.

WELSH SCHOOL. The charity fchool of the most honourable and loyal fociety of Ancient Britons was established for inftructing, clothing, maintaining, and apprenticing poor children, defcended of Welfh parents, born in and near London, who have no parochial fettlement therein. It was eftablished on the 1ft of March, 1714, in honour of the birth-day of her Royal Highnefs Caroline, then Princess of Wales, which fortunately happened to be coincident with the commemoration of the titular faint of the principality. His Royal Highness George, then Prince of Wales, upon an addrefs, prefented on the 24th of the fame month, was X x 2 pleased

pleafed to honour the fociety with his patronage, under the tyle and title of "The moft honourable and Royal Society of Ancient Britons." The fubfcriptions at firft being small, the fociety engaged a room near Hatton-garden, and took only twelve poor children upon the establishment. When their charitable defigns became better known, and the subfcriptions increased, they increased the number to forty, and in 1737, a fubfcription was begun for erecting a school on Clerkenwell-green. They were foon enabled to take fome poor children entirely on themfelves, not only to be educated, but boarded and clothed. As the fchool-houfe on Clerkenwell-green would not admit of enlargement fuffcient for this purpose, a piece of freehold ground was purchafed in 1772, and fecured to the use of the charity, on the right-hand side of the road from Gray's Inn-lane to Pancras, which is fufficient to accommodate one hundred children.

MISCELLANEOUS CHARITIES. Befide thofe already described in claffes, there are many other charitable inftitutions which extend the benefits of benevolence, both in donations and inftruction to numerous ranks of fociety. Some are for the converfion, civilization, and general improvement, by various means, of thofe to whom the advantages of revelation and focial improvement have been hitherto unknown. Such are the African Institution; the American Indian Civilization: the Society for Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts; the Hibernian Society; the Miffionary Society; that for Miffions to Africa and the East; and the Society for Converfion of Negroes. Some give to thofe whom indigence or indifference would otherwise deprive of fuch benefits, the ineftimable volumes of the Holy Scripture, and the found deductions drawn from them by learned and religious men fuch are the British and Foreign Bible Society; the Naval and Military Bible Society; the Society for promoting Chriftian Knowledge; the Endeavour Society; the Society for promoting Religious Knowledge among the Poor; and the Religious Tract Society. In fome inftances individuals have devoted fums of money to the relief of particular calamities; and charities are diftributed according to their directions by corporations; or in other cafes affociated bodies continue to collect and diftribute monies according to an established plan. Among the former of thefe may be claffed Came's, Hethrington's, and Stock's charities for the blind; and Came's charity for the deaf and dumb. Among the latter are found the Choral Fund; the Literary Fund for the relief

of

of authors in diftrefs; the Mufical Fund, and New Mufical Fund. Some require from the claimant a previous facrifice of fome portion of his own gains, and have, therefore Come affinity with benefit focieties; as the Society for Relief of difabled Merchant Seamen, their Widows and Children; the Society of Schoolmasters, the Theatrical Fund, and the Stock Exchange Fund.

A few other charities merit particular enumeration : these are

THE SOCIETY for betterING THE CONDITION OF THE POOR. Founded in 1796, with a view to examine the cause of distress, to remove difficulties in the way of parochial relief, to facilitate the diftribution of charitable benefactions, to infpect workhoufes and charitable inftitutions in order to point out improvements, and to aid the important cause of religious inftruction to the mature and to the young. Out of this fociety has fprung a committee of ladies, who intereft themselves in all the objects as far as comes within the cognizance of female regard. The reports and other publications of this fociety are deemed of great value and importance.

THE SOCIETY FOR THE DISCHARGE AND RELIEF OF PERSONS IMPRISONED FOR SMALL DEBTS THROUGHOUT ENGLAND, inflituted in February 1772. Its objects are those whofe debts or compofition for them does not exceed 10/.; those have the preference who are aged or infirm; have the largeft families unprovided for; are the most likely to be useful to the community, and appear to have loft their liberty by unavoidable misfortunes, and not by fraud, vice, or extravagance. The committee are empowered to relieve helpless families which fuffer by the faults of their principals, and no debtor can be relieved a fecond time. In the fame fpirit with this is,

THE PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETY, AT MILE-END, FOR THE SAME AND OTHER PURPOSES. One moiety of the fubfcription is applied for the discharge of poor debtors from imprisonment, and the other for relief of poor perfons and families, as the directors think fit. annual fubfcription is only 125., and 51. 55. constitutes a life governor.

The

THE ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY, established A. D. 1774, by Dr. Cogan, with the co-operation of the late Dr. Hawes, for recovery of the apparently dead by drowning, or other causes of fuffocation. The obvious usefulness of this fociety has given great extenfion to its operations; and there are in all parts of the kingdom medical men inftructed and ready

to

to apply to fufferers the means of restoring animation. Ingenuity and industry have also been inceffantly employed in improving and furthering thefe means, and in communicating the results for the benefit of mankind.

But

If the charities here mentioned conftituted the whole mass of voluntary donation, no man could contemplate fuch a facrifice, in addition to the vast revenue raised by the poor's rate, without astonishment and reverence; but, in fact, it does not comprize any thing like the total of donation in and near the metropolis. Many charities have not been named on account of their fimilarity to others, and the apparent tediousness of recapitulating mere names. befides these, there are few confiderable towns in the kingdom that have not their alms-houses, their hofpital, their infirmary, their difpenfary, and their charitable establishments and collections, according to the need and circumstances of the neighbourhood. In most places opulent individuals fupply the poor in illness, particularly lying-in, and in other cafes of neceflity, with bed-clothing, linen, medicine, wine, and food. In the enumeration already made, it must have ftruck the reader that there is no mode of diftrefs that has not fome relief appointed, nor any state in which a pauper can be in fociety, in which benevolence does not tender its aid. In the moment of birth, in the perils of infancy and adolefcence, nurture, education, and inftruction in a trade are offered; when the parties behave themselves well in these first stages, moderate premiums facilitate their entrance into life. In the fubfequent progrefs of man every species of calamity has its diftinct mode of relief, and every kind of neceflity its correfponding fupply. All vifitations of Providence, all diseases or hurts incidental to trade or arifing from accident; the fudden attack of illness, or the inevitable wafting of age; penury, from whatever cause it may arife; all have claims on the funds devoted by confiderate benevolence to the public good. Nor is it always neceffary that the claim fhould be fo made as to wound the feelings of those who are afhamed to folicit. The true Christian gentleness of charity has devifed means, as in the donations from the literary fund, to conceal from the moft inquifitive fcrutiny, the names of those who would hold down their heads if it were known that they had received alms. They then who have begun life virtuously, and are arrested in their progrefs by misfortune, may look to public benevolence as a fecure resource; but muft they who have strayed from virtue abandon themselves to defpair? No. To the repentant prostitute, to the diseased libertine, to the offspring

of