Yo Mr. URBAN, Feb. 9... Lord." "You speak in riddles; how YOUR Correspondents Economi- do you then to "My Lord, I cus, Vol. LXXXVI. Partii. p.228, have a convent of young damsels here, and Humanitas, p. 312, in their sug- who do not let me want for any thing." gestions for the relief and employ-How! you have a convent! I did ment of the poor, allude to the keep ing of Bees as being very profila ble to the proprietors. Economicus says, "Few are the places in this country where Bees could not be cultivated to great advantage;" and I heartily concur with him in that opihion, and therefore most earnestly recommend every person who has any kind of convenience for the purpose (and it requires little more than a Southerly situation, well sheltered from the wind) to try the experiment, nothing doubting but they will he most amply rewarded for the little trouble and expence they may be put to in the first instance. And this is got only recommended to the poorer classes, but also to farmers and arti Zins of every description who have that great source of domestic comfort a garden" attached to their habitations. (Let it be observed, however, that gardens in or very near to large towns are by no means congenial to the habits and health of those industrious insects.) By way of illustrating what has been said of the profits to be derived from Bees, Ishall, by your leave, Mr. Urban, subjoin a pleasing tale on the subject, lately communicated to me as a fact. "A French Bishop being about to make his annual visitation, sent word to a certain Curate (whose ecclesiastical benefice was extremely smail), that he intended to dine with him; at the same time requesting that he would not put himself to any extraordinary. expence. The Curate promised to attend to the Bishop's suggestion; but he did not keep his word, for he provided a most sumptuous entertainment. His Lordship was much surprised; but could not avoid censuring the conduct of the Curate, observing, that it was highly ridiculous in a mau whose circumstances were so narrow, to launch out in such expence; nay, almost to dissipate his entire incomie in a single day. Do not be uneasy on that scare, my Lord," replied the Curate, "for I assure you that what you now see is not the produce of my curacy, which I bestow exclusively on the poor." "Then you have a patrimoby, Sir" said the Bishop. No, my GENT. MAG. February, 1817. not know there was one in this neighbourhood: this is all very strange, very unaccountable, Mr. Curate." "You are jocular, my Lord." "But come, Sir," said the Bishop, "1 intreat that you would solve the enigina: I would fain see the convent." "So you shall, my Lord, after dinner; and I promise you that your Lordship will be satisfied with my conduct." Accordingly, when dinner was over, the Curate conducted the Prelate to a large inclosure, entirely occupied by Bee-hives, and, pointing to the latter, observed, "This, my lord, is the convent which gave us our din ner; it brings me in about 1800 livres per annum, upon which I live very comfortably, and with which I coutrive to entertain my guests genteelly." The surprize and satisfaction of the Bishop at this discovery may readily be conceived. The sequel of the story informs us, that afterwards, whenever a Curate made application to his Lordship for an improved living, he would only reply, "Keep Bees, keep Bees." BENEVOLUS. ** This Correspondent refers R. E. R. (LXXXVI. ii. 386) to Sir W. Temple's Works, vol. 1. folio, p. 128, for that great Statesman's Letter to Lady Essex on the Death of her Daughter, dated Jan. 29, 1674; and very justly observes, that "many other extremely interesting particulars are to be found in the Works of Sir William Temple." EDIT. Mr. URBAN, WIT Jan. 1. WITH reference to the present general distress, pray permit me to inquire, -do any of your va Juable Correspondents know the particulars of a Charity which is said to exist for the relief of poor Seamen, Soldiers, and their families? I have met with the following account of it amongst some old papers; and should feel gratified at this juncture to ascertain whether it is correct. "On application to the Aldermen or the Lord Mayor, and soliciting a ticket, you may receive of the Chamberlain the sum of 47. arising from the legacy left by Sir J. Langham to the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen of the City of London, in trust, to wards wards raising a fund for the relief of poor seamen, soldiers, and their families. As the sum cannot be sufficient to supply every one who needs, it is thus distributed: The Lord Mayor has four tickets, and each Alderman two, to dispose of yearly; and whoever they favour with a ticket, receives 47. upon giving a receipt for the same at the Chamberlain's Office, without any dedaction. Such as cannot find a friend may obtain a ticket, by petitioning to the Lord Mayor, or Aldermen, or by going personally to the Mansion-house; where the ticket is sometimes granted to them. "Three years servitude in the Navy or Army is quite sufficient to entille a person to the benefit of it, but it is very little known amongst those objects whom it is principally intended to relieve *." HUMANITAS. THE HE attention which has been paid to the humble claims of the Debtor does honour to the Philanthropy of the Country; and if what 1 have to offer upon a subject relating to the protection of the Creditor should appear reasonable, I have a hope that among your widely circulating Essays it may catch the eye of some upright and powerful Lawyer, and be carried into effect by the Legislature. On looking into a List of Bankrupts, we may conceive what an enormous property is annually sunk in these commercial whirlpools, and society trembles at the extended ruin which the explosion of a considerable Firm carries along with it. The means now in force for the recovery of such property being to me practically unsatisfactory, I wish to recommend that the administration of a Bankrupt's affairs should be discharg ed by public officers, giving security for their conduct, instead of being committed to the trust of individual creditors selected for Assignees. An Assignee either undertakes a troublesome and gratuitous task, in the execution of which he may expect that courtesy should exempt him from much inquiry and investi gation; or he accepts it for the sake of a salary, or with an intention to profit by the handling and manage ment of the money. In either case the arrangement is partial or inconvenient; and where a dispute and can. vass arises for the nomination, between the friends of the bankrupt and the more rigorous creditors, the vanquished party are sure to be injured by the result, because their property is delivered over into the care and possession of those in whom they do not place confidence. The Assignee too is generally himself a tradesman, or else a banker, whose special trade it is to become the debtor of his customers to as great an amount, and for as long a period, as he can obtain; and who hereby becoming invested with sums of money, for the use of which he gives no account, and for the principal no security, exposes it a second time to risk by the contingency of his own failure. If, as Commissioners are appointed for the regulation of some of the proceedings in bankruptcy, they should also discharge the more important function of receiving and dividing the money, such hazard and incon venience as I have alluded to would be obviated, and all suspicion of interested delay in the payment of dividends would be removed; a satisfactory publicity would be insured for the creditor in the management of the affairs; he would receive the utmost proportion of bis debt that jus tice could recover, without the chance of being inveigled into compromises obtained upon deceptive representations. The money that is accumulated previously to each dividend should be vested in the public funds, and the interest carried to the general account. Costs of such an establishment would be inferior to the prodigious accounts for litigation that are now created at the will of a directing attorney; and the delays and expences of the office would be altogether less than those for which needy or capricious men may find endless pretences. W. M. H. frequently happens that I have to search the Registers of various Churches in London, for marriages, burials, &c.; and it as frequently occurs, that when I go to any such Church, I am informed that no search can be made that day, on account of the the lateness of the hour, or that there is no one in the way to attend me. An unpleasantness of this sort, Sir, presented itself in the present week, when, on application to a Parish Clerk for inspection of the Register, who lived not more than a hundred yards from the Church, I was told I ought to have come earlier (not withstanding it was then not more than two o'clock); that the proper hours for searching Registers were between ten and twelve; and, independent of this, that there was no person to attend me. It was in vain, Sir, I urged the real necessity of procuring the information I was in quest of; I was again peremptorily informed it could not be done, and I was consequently obliged to come away without it. Now I should be glad to know, through the channel of your widely circulated publication, Bot more for my own satisfaction, than for the information of the publick at large: 1. Whether the Register of every Parish Church is, or is not, bound, upon application, to be produced, for the purpose of making any extracts therefrom, or taking copies of any marriage, birth, or burial? 2. Whether, on any such application, the party can legally insist on its production? And 3dly, Whether any Clerk, or other person duly authorised, refusing lo make such search, or to accompany any such applicant for that purpose, is not liable to some, and what punishment? Mr. URBAN, A CONSTANT READER. Jan. 23. As S the unfortunate children employed to sweep chimneys are likely to have their cause taken up by Parliament in the course of the present Session, I wish to point out to those persons who are interested in their behalf, the terms by which the Legislature has already marked the trade of a Chimney-sweeper, which appears to me such, that it is rather extraordinary more notice has not been taken of them, than has been. The preamble to the Act Geo. III. 28. cap. 48. for the better regulation of Chimney-sweepers and their apprentices, begins thus: "Whereas the Laws now in being, respecting Masters and Apprentices, do not vide sufficient regulations, so as to prevent VARIOUS COMPLICATED MISERIES, to which Boys employed in climbing and cleansing chimneys, are liable, beyond any other employment whatsoever in which boys of tender years are engaged; and whereas the MISERY of the said boys might be much alleviated," &c. In the schedule to the Act, to which clause 1 refers, the Master (or Mistress) of the Boys is directed to treat bis (or her) Apprentices with "as much humanity and care as the nature of the employment of a Chimney sweeper will allow of." If I mistake not, the basis on which the Act of Parliament for the abolition of the African Slave Trade was founded was a resolution of the House of Commons, that the trade was contrary to justice, humanity, and sound policy. The declaration, or rather acknowledgment of the Legislature, respecting the various complicated miseries attendant on the present mode of sweeping chimneys surely may be taken as a good foundation for a Bill to abolish in future the practice of employing helpless infants to sweep chimneys; a practice which has most justly been said to be "disgraceful to tolerate in a Chrislian and a civilized Country.” A CONSTANT READER. Mr. URBAN, Jan. 30. BELIEVE few who are practically conversant with matters of Agriculture, can refrain from joining in the smile which the communication of" A Lay Titheholder" in your Number for October last, p. 310, (purporting to be an extract from the Times Newspaper) on the recent Report of the Board of Agriculture, must excite. But, on so serious a subject as the present depressed state of the agricultural interest of this kingdom, one cannot long indulge any motion of merriment towards mistakes which, when gravely advanced by so respectable a Society, as facts resulting from inquiries directed by that united sagacity which is supposed to reside in such establishments, become sanctified to the uninformed, aud matter of conviction to those alone who need information of the real state of the subject, and who are infinitely the. greater part of society. I am led to offer these remarks "Review of your from reading in pro New New Publications," in the Number be- From a pretty extensive knowledge of the former County, I can assert, that if it he meant that 10s. in the pound rent is the general rate of composition for Tithe in Dorsetshire, which is the obvious inference, a more minute inquiry, or a better informed Correspondent, would have assured the Board, that 5s. in the pound rent is, on an average, the rate of commutation of tithe throughout the County, taking the vale or grazing part called Blackmore, with the hill country on which the sheep and corn system is followed. There can be no doubt but that many instances exist where, on corn farms of good quality, at low rents, it amounts to 10s. in the pound on such low rent; but putting those farms on an equal average price with others according to quality, their composition will be reduced to the average I have stated. With regard to Berkshire, a County of which I have also some knowledge, the statement of 9s. an acre being paid for grass land is by no means an alarming account of tithe composition, when it is recollected that the grass laud in the rich vale of White Horse, and of other parts of that County, are let at from three guineas to five pounds per acre, and that a seventh, or at least an eighth, part of the rent value of grass land is usually set out on commissions of inclosure as the fair value of the tithe, where lands are allotted in lieu thereof. I heartily hope the Board may have been more fortunate in their Correspondents from other Counties; or the facts" collected with so much laudabie zeal, will yet require much fresh sorting and ticketing. J. B.K. Mr. URBAN, Chelsea, Feb. 3. REQUEST your indulgence to a few lines from a very old Correspondent, who never yet has ventured to draw his grey-goose-quill against Essex-street or its Pope. Permit me gently to hint to Mr. T. Belsham, that I deem him uofortunate in his reply to Lord Thurlow's manly letter. (See Gent. Mag. Jan. 1917, p. 10.) Three times Mr. B. "has no doubt," once Mr. B. dares say," and once Mr. B. assures you he has received "on undoubted authority." I will not trample upon a fallen Hero, whom Bp. Burgess has laid low. But 1 may be permitted to observe that, with respect to his statement, "Non tali auxilio, nec defensoribus istis, Tempus eget.' VIRG. Can it be admitted, seriously, even by Mr. B. himself, whom I sincerely pily, that Lord Thurlow's " late. learned and noble Relative," and that Bp. Horsley, " of whose learning and talents that Relative had a very just opinion," "had a great respect and friendship for each other,"-perfectly understood one another, and yet, "in their social hours, (let us not mince the matter here, in their liberal compotationes,) often amused themselves like knaves with laughing at fools?" If I misunderstand Mr. B. he has the pen of a ready writer: but he will allow me to add, that Mr. B. may dare say what a common man like your Correspondent shudders to believe. A Bishop is " as a city set upon an hill." Let not men in high stations be shot at by air-guns, or by anony. mous assassins Mr. URBAN, IN JOHN TROT. Feb. 4. N your valuable Publication, rarely have I met with any thing of so dangerous a tendency as a Paper in your Number for July last, p. 20, signed "A Cambrian Vicar." It is and to the Dissenters: it bears indisequally adverse to our Establishment lent Institution, whether calculated criminate hostility to every benevoto repel bodily or mental evil. How a Vicar can reconcile the concluding sentences to the sentiments which every Churchman should entertain respecting Episcopacy, and more par* Even though known to Mr. B. ticularly ticularly to bis oath of obedience to his own Diocesan, I know not. The tendency of what he has written most certainly is, to bring the present race of Right Reverend Fathers in God into supreme cootempt. to positively affirm, that a man earning his daily bread by labour, no sooner unites himself to those associated in any scheme of Benevolence, than his true character meliorates, and his morals progressively improve. And the result of good morals to a working man is well known. Sobriety, industry, and economy, invariably tend to eurich their possessor. When sound principles get hold of the heart, although Charity, being an effect thereof, causes something to be parted with, yet the consequences upon the whole, are, even in a pecuniary point of view, highly advantageous. In the present world, speaking of it as it affects the lower orders, Godliness is great gain. In the other part of his Letter, why the lower classes of the community should not be allowed to contribute to Charities, or even to the support of their own Teachers, the fiery Writer is in too great haste to assign any good reason. Liberty to do what we will with our own is, I should conceive, essential to the very right of possession. We may spend-we have a right to give-we may chuse to hoard. No one can deprive a man of this power. His choice of the various methods of getting rid of his money may be erroneous. It may deserve our reprobation. The laborious mechanick, who wastes in tippling on the Saturday-night the earnings of the week, is highly culpable. The deplorable condition of his starving family proves it. The frequenter of the brothel too merits our censure. He wastes his money to procure disease and rottenness of bones. But when one of the lower class subscribes his penny per week to a Bible or Prayer-book Society, or any other useful Institution, what evil, let me ask, can possibly result? What may be that portion of the Why, Mr. Urban, none at all. Every labourer's gains which is given to his dispassionate mind perceives that no- Dissenting Teacher, it is not my bu thing but good ensues:-good unal-siness to investigate. In any comloyed with the smallest mixture of munity the labourer must be worthy evil. I grant that, with respect to the of his hire: and if he be not so richly Institution, it is not much: but with recompensed as to lift him into digrespect to the Donor, it is almost in- nified indolence, who can have any calculable. His attention has been right to censure? happily arrested, and is fixed upon a certain excellent Charity. Benevolence is awakened within him; and the very act of subscribing solicits and gradually draws forth a wish to do good, and a conscious delight there1. It is morever a pledge for the man's good conduct. No sooner has one in the lower walks of life entered into such an engagement, than he feels himself bound to maintain a consistency of character. He has become connected with others, who not only confess Charity to be laudable, but practise it; and he is anxious that he may do credit to his He finds that he is not utterly unnoticed by those around him; and he naturally wishes to be esteemed. From observation I can Let not then the Cambrian Vicar apprehend that the characters whom he describes, will generally be the Candidates for admission into the Workhouse. Let him ask any honest Overseer, whose names are most frequent in his accounts; and he will tell him the names of the vicious of the township-the tippler's familythe wanton baggage, and er brats. These are the creatures who cause our Poor-rates to be so enormously high. These constitute that dead weight under which the community groans. new connexion. The hulks and the gallows, I fear, obtain more than a fair proportion of the orthodox part of our population, who never contributed to any one in pretended Holy Orders. Should there be any spot in the Principality where "the hungry sheep look up and are not fed," uninvited assistance may perhaps mortify the self-complacence of the Pastor; and the result will be needless trepidation about "Hydras, Gorgons, and Chimæras dire." But to be serious: Every effort to make good Churchmen, without mak-1 ing men good Christians, will be fruitless. A good foundation being laid, the workman, who needeth not to be ashamed, will speedily erect a superstructure useful and even ele gant. |