praise. Such, you know, was the purpose of the Dublin corporation, had not the use of the church been refused by the ecclesiastical powers whose consent was necessary. It is a striking incident, and gives rise to painful reflections, that the Protestants of the Irish capital should be forbidden by heads of the Irish Protestant church, to render thanks unto the Most High for having confounded the devices of the anti-christian enemy. But He who accepts according to that a man hath, and not according to that which he hath not, will acknowledge the sincere desire thus publicly to glorify him, as though it had been done. Oh, for his mercy's sake in Christ Jesus may he still interpose, and fill the mouths of his trusting though persecuted people with that gloriously confiding boast, THE LORD IS OUR JUDGE, THE LORD IS OUR LAWGIVER, THE LORD IS OUR KING; HE WILL SAVE US!'

THE

CHRISTIAN LADY'S MAGAZINE.

OCTOBER, 1839.

HELEN FLEETWOOD.

II.

ABOUT a mile distant from the widow's cottage, hard by the school, and not far from the village church, stood that truly national edifice, the workhouse. On the forenoon of this day, eventful to many a poor creature whose sole dependence was on the result of their deliberations, a knot of functionaries assembled in the room set apart for transacting parish affairs, and very earnest were the looks of those engaged in the discussion. The churchwarden, a prudent, intelligent man; the overseer, the doctor, and two of the general committee were present. The clergyman had not yet made his appearance: and while suspending the special business of the day until he should arrive, they fell into the important subject of their respective duties.

OCTOBER, 1839.

U

'It cannot be doubted,' said the churchwarden, 'that each man has a twofold sphere of action: the one embracing his personal and family concerns, and the other extending so as to take in his relative duties to the community of which he is a member, and to the country of which he is a subject.'

'Very just,' responded one of the gentlemen; and another undeniable proposition is, that the greater duty is the more imperative, and on all occasions where they clash, the inferior claim must yield to the superior.'

And which do you consider the greater?' asked the doctor.

The one that takes the widest range, of course,' replied the last speaker.

Yes,' resumed the churchwarden; ‘and on this principle we must regulate our proceedings in all matters brought before us to-day. Private feeling may plead, personal interest may perhaps back that plea but we sit here to administer the funds of the parish, whose representatives we are; and our object must be, to secure the greatest possible saving in all branches of our expenditure.'

:

'Provided,' remarked the doctor, that in rendering justice to one class of our fellow-parishioners, we inflict no wrong on another, and perhaps the more numerous class.'

Meaning the paupers, I presume?'

Yes: though with us they do not constitute the majority-far from it, indeed-I conceive their interests are entrusted to us in at least as extensive and important a measure as those of the superior section.'

Excuse me, sir,' said the overseer, 'I don't see

how that can be. Money, sir, money is surely the most important trust a man can have in his charge. That is, a layman,' he added, discerning from a window the clergyman's approach.

'A little practice in my line, Mr. Miles,' said the doctor, turning up a shrewd glance at the speaker, who stood near his chair, would convince you that, in most instances, health, limb, and life are of more value to a man than money itself.'

The health, limbs, and lives of the parish could not be in better keeping than they are, sir,' answered the overseer, bowing low to the professional gentleman, whose half smile and shake of the head bespoke what he had sometimes been heard to declare in that room, of the inefficacy of all his drugs, combined with all his skill, to do justice to his charge, where common nutriment was wanting to support the mortal frame. However, the entrance of the clergyman, with the general movement that greeted his arrival, prevented further remark.

'I am late,' said Mr. Barlow; but this widespreading though trifling epidemic has thrown an accession of duty on my hands, in the visiting way.' 'It is trifling, sir,' eagerly responded the overseer; and your testimony to that fact is of value.'

I merely meant to distinguish it from the formidable fever of last spring,' said the minister: 'nothing is trifling to the poor man whom it disables, while it lasts, from carning his daily bread.'

Two or three corroborative nods from the doctor rendered it advisable to the majority to drop this subject: for though the minority was small, usually consisting of these two individuals alone, they were so provokingly united in appealing to the evidence

of their daily personal experience, in confirmation of their no less provoking prejudices against what went by the name of parochial economy, and so quietly determined in pursuing their object, that they gave the board more trouble than even the paupers whose advocates they were. The clients were easily silenced, if not convinced, by certain summary modes of procedure, well understood by their relieving friends but these gentlemen had a licence, arising even less from their offices than from their high character, and of it they frequently availed themselves, to the no small discomfiture of their brethren, and the occasional overthrow of their best schemes.

We are far from saying that in these schemes the framers were actuated by any other than a conscientious, though certainly an erroneous view of their duties. They held in trust the amount of a public, legal contribution, provided for a definite purpose; and this they considered that they must, as good stewards, husband to the uttermost. Had the contemplated outlay been one merely affecting the inanimate creation, this principle might perhaps have been worked out to the farthest stretch of their ingenuity; but when the question resolved itself into this-upon how scanty a quota of necessary sustenance might human life be supported, so as to avert from its object the climax of actual starvation; and to how minute a fraction might relief be diminished, so as not to lose the semblance of relief to those for whose special use the fund was set apart-then the calculators were necessarily in imminent peril of sacrificing on the shrine of supposed public duty, not only all the finer feelings of humanity, all the brotherly observances that man owes to man, but