thought to have fome participation of divinenefs, because it doth raife and erect the mind, by fubmitting the fhews of things to the defires of the mind; whereas reafon doth buckle and bow the mind unto the nature of things." Lord Bacon Adv. of Learning. B. II. P. 463. fol.

With these remarks we difmifs a work, which has added. to the good opinion we had before conceived of this author, and which will doubtlefs increase his eftimation in the eye of the public.

ART. XVII. Account of the Management of the Poor in Hamburgh fince the Year 1788, in a Letter to fome Friends of the Poor in Great Britain. 8vo. No Price or Publisher's name. Edinburgh. 1795.

THE

HE progreffive increase of the Poor's-Rate throughout the extent of Great-Britain has, of late years, been a fource of juft and great complaint. The evil feems to have proceeded entirely from a want of that management, which a fagacious foreigner has fhown us in this pamphlet, to be not only practicable, but to be followed by the most desirable fuccefs. If in each provincial town, fuch as Manchester, Birmingham, or Norwich, a number of individuals above the reach of influence, and fuperior to the allurements of intereft, were to combine in the prosecution of fome fuch plan as is here pointed out, they would certainly discharge a great and honourable office, and fpeedily fee an increase of diligence among the poor, and a confequent diminution of diftrefs, the refult of their meafures. The writer of this pamphlet we understand to be a German gentleman of confiderable fortune, who long refided in this country from motives alike honourable to his philanthropy, and his defire of ingenuous improvement. Among the things which caught his attention when among us, was the management of our poor, the complaints against the continual increase of the poor's-rates, and the numerous fcenes of private calamity offenfive to the feelings of all, and disreputable to a well ordered government. After fome very wife and philanthropic remarks upon the relative fituations of the poor in various parts of Europe, he obferves, that

"In all the Weft of Europe there is hardly a country where the fums which public and private benevolence beftows upon the poor, are not more than adequate to the purposes of their relief, but mifma nagement

BRIT. CRIT. VOL. VI. SEPT. 1795.

nagement has employed them, with very few exceptions, as a reward for floth, idleness, impudence, untruth, &c. &c. Unthinking pity has rafhly ftopped that natural course of things, by which want leads to labour, labour to comfort, the knowledge of comfort to industry, and to all these virtues by which the toiling multitude fo incalculably adds to the ftrength and happiness of a country; and while it neglects that refpectable poverty which fhrinks from public fight, it encourages, by profufe and indifcriminate charities, all thefe abominable arts which make beggary a better trade than a workshop."

On the truth of the above remarks it is unneceffary to expatiate, and to our own country they are peculiarly applicable. The refpectable author proceeds to obferve, that the evil was in Hamburgh become intolerable. A number of gentlemen formed themfelves into a fociety of 180 overfeers, from whom a committee of directors were chofen for life. The town of Hamburgh was divided into 60 districts, and three overfeers were allotted to each diftrict. Their first object was actual relief: the means of fupplying this were obtained from the voluntary fubfcriptions of each parifh; but at the moment when relief was communicated, care was taken to prevent any man from receiving a fhilling which he could have been able to earn for himself. The kind of work the fociety preferred for the employment of their poor, was the flax-yarn fpinning manufactory, and for the best of all reafons, because the material is cheap, the fale always fure, no nice workmanship required, it is easily learnt, can be done by young and old, and becaufe the work can be exactly ascertained by meafure. The eftablishment could fafely offer relief to all forts of poor, becaufe the only condition required was, that they fhould use towards their fupport all the exertions they were capable of making. It was easily afcertained what the difabled poor were able to earn in a week, and the overfeers paid them regularly as much as their earnings fell fhort of what was required for their maintenance. This in Hamburgh was found by experience to amount to 1s. 6d. a week for each poor perfon; applications for relief became lefs and lefs frequent; and there was, as the writer obferves, an infallible ftandard for diftinguishing real want, for if the pauper had not earned what he could, he had either been lazy, or had found more lucrative work. Whenever by fome relaxation of regularity on the part of the overfeers the fum of the relief in the period of fix years had been large, it was always found that the thermometer of industry had been lower, viz. lefs yarn fpun. For the fick and aged a hofpital was provided, for children under fix years of age, nurfes in the houses of the better fort of poor, and all children from fix to fixteen years of age were fent to fchool, two-thirds

of

of their time being given to work, the remainder to inftruction. And this presents another great hinge upon which the inftitu tion turns. For to no family was relief allowed for a child paft fix years, but this child being fent to fchool received not only the payment of his work, but an allowance in the compound ratio of his attendance at fchool, his behaviour, and his, application to work. Thus children were taught from their infancy to look to labour for their fubfiftence. Thus too all giving of alms imperceptibly ceafed. The poor were all known, and no deferving perfon was unnoticed; hence becomes obvious the wisdom of a plan which makes the relief of the poor dependent on their induftry. The number of poor fami lies progreffively decreafed, which was alfo the cafe with the number of the fick, and the inftitutors were enabled to employ a greater thare of their funds and their attention in the better education of children. The aggregate of the expence for a year, where the inhabitants are estimated at one hundred and ten thousand, and where no beggar is feen, but the poor actually relieved, and their children carefully inftru&ted, does not exceed 14000l*.

The reader will find many fenfible and benevolent remarks, in this interesting publication; and if the plan here exhibited fhall not, from the different circumftances and prejudices of this country, admit of a precife imitation among us, it may, and it ought to act, as a new stimulus upon them whom it more immediately concerns, to concert fome means of obviating an evil perpetually increasing, and operating in a manner the moft hoftile that can be imagined to industry, order, and morality.

ART. XVIII. Difcourfes on feveral Subjects; being the Subfiance of fome Select Homilies of the Church of England, rendered in a modern Style, and fitted for the general Ufe, and Chriftian Inftruction of the Community at large. In Two Volumes. By the Rev. Sir Adam Gordon Bart. M. A. late of Chrift Church, Oxford, and Rector of Hinxworth, Herts. 8vo. 376 and 421 pp. 14s. Stockdale, 1795. TITLE-PAGES which promife much more than the books

perform fo frequently occur, that it is not without fome portion of furprife we notice, in the cafe before us, the very contrary fault. From the expreffions here recited, we feared, on a first view, that the reverend author had confined his il

The fum annually raised in Norwich, which contains perhaps lefs than 40000 inhabitants, is 24000l.

luftrations to a felect, perhaps only a very fmall part, of the Homilies of the Church; and were inclined to regret, that a plan fo obviously useful had not been purfued in a more extenfive manner. But, on examination, we find, to our great fatisfaction, the whole fet of difcourfes modernized, with the exception of only one entire Homily, and particular parts of two or three others; for which omiffions very adequate reafons are affigned. The modefty of Sir Adam Gordon has certainly induced him to lower his expreffions too far; instead of the "fubftance of fome felect Homilies," he should have faid the fubftance of the Homilies: or, if very fcrupulous, he might have fubjoined, "with a few omiffions.” have we before us the very book we wifhed, but hardly hoped to find the Homilies accommodated, in point of style, to the taste and understanding of the times; and we have not lately feen a book more likely to be useful. That respect for our pious and judicious ancestors, which modern arrogance is but too eager to throw off, will revive, at leaft in candid minds, when their thoughts are contemplated with the advantages of improved language; when it is found that if they were not eloquent, they were yet learned in the fcriptures, correct in their reafonings, and not lefs acute in judgement than those who venture to despise them.

Thus

The Homilies of our Church consist of two parts, or books. The firft, containing twelve difcourfes, was published in the reign of Edward VI., the tenth of them being drawn up, fays Fuller, at or about Ket's Rebellion; which, however, must be a miftake, fince they were publifhed in the first year of Edward's reign, and that rebellion did not break out till the third. The fecond book was published in the reign of Elizabeth, and confifts of twenty-one Homilies; both were ap-proved and established afterwards, in the thirty fifth article of the Church. Of their authors little is known, and Fullertells us that objections were raised from this obfcurity of their origin. However fome," he fays behold thefe Homilies as not fufficiently legitimated by this article to be (for their doctrine) the undoubted iffue of the Church of England, alledging them compofed by private men of unknown names, who may probably be prefumed, at the beft, but the chaplains of the archbishops under whom they were made." Be that as it may, they were iffued with the avowed approbation of the head of the Church, and pronounced in the article to contain " godly and wholesome doctrine, and neceffary for those times." If it be thought by any perfons, as it has indeed been alledged, that their utility was confined to thofe times, it may be answered in the words of Sir A. Gordon that," the doctrines and precepts of the Gofpel being (like their author) the

fame

fame yesterday, to day, and for ever, unless it can be shown that the fubjects enforced by the Homilies are contradictory to the Evangelical model; if they were fit for the times in which they were written, they must be granted equally fo in all times;" p. lxi, or, as Fuller more cautiously expreffes himself, "I confeffe what is necellary in one age may be leffe needfull in another, but what in one age is godly and wholfome doctrine (characters of commendation given by the aforefaid article to the Homilies, cannor in another be ungodly and unhealthfull, as if our fath did follow fashions, and truth alter with the times." Church Hift. B. ix. p. 75.-Many objec tions have, however, been made to them, which will be beft refuted by perufing the Homilies themselves: and this the worthy editor of thefe volumes has rendered eafy, to perfons of all defcriptions, by the care he has judiciously bestowed upon their language.

The Homily entirely omitted by this editor is the fecond of the second book, against peril of idolatry, and fuperfluous decking of churches, which being directed entirely against errors of the Romish Church, is deemed unneceffary, in the prefent ftate of things. The few other parts omitted are past over chiefly for the fame reafon : and they do not amount altogether to the quantity of a fingle Homily. That on idolatry is by far the longest of the fet, and, as it contains much curious. maiter, perhaps it would not have been amifs to have given a fhort fummary of its contents.

The modernization of these difcourfes appears to us to be performed in the most judicious manner; nothing is altered wantonly, or without fufficient reafon. The doctrines, and their illustrations are preferved in general in the order they have in the original, and the whole is reduced into fuch a form as was doubtlefs pleafing as well as edifying to Sir A.'s parishioners, for whom the task was undertaken, and would be fo to any other congregation. But we cannot better illustrate the manner of the performance, than by giving a paffage from the original, fubjoining that, which is parallel to it in the prefent publication. We take it, without much selection, from the fermon on chriftian love and charity.

PART I. HOM. 6.

Of all things that be good to bee taught vnto Chriftian people, there is nothing more neceflary to be fpoken of, and dayly called vpon, then charity afwell for that all maner of workes of righteoufnelle bee contayned in it, as alfo that the decay thereof is the ruine or fall of the world, the banishment of vertue, and the caufe of all vice, And for fo much as almoft euery man, maketh and frameth