self privately at half of the expence that is necessary in a poor-house.

So far we have travelled on solid ground; and what follows is equally folid. Among the industrious, not many are reduced fo low, but that they can make some shift for themselves. The quantity of labour that can be performed by those who require aid, cannot be brought under any accurate estimation. To pave the

way to a conjecture, those who are reduced to poverty by diffoluteness or sheer idleness, ought absolutely to be rejected as unwor. thy of public charity. If such wretches can prevail on the tender-hearted to relieve them privately, so far well: they ought not to be indulged with any other hope. Now laying these afide, the quantity of labour may be fairly computed as half maintenance. Here then is another great article faved to the public. If a man can be maintained privately at half of what is necessary in a poor - house, his work, reckoning it half of his maintenance, brings down the sum to the fourth part of what is necessary in a poor-house.

Undistinguished charity to the deserving and undeserving, has multiply'd the poor ; ;

!

and will multiply them more and more
without end. Let it be publicly known
that the diffolute and idle have no chance
to be put on a charity-roll; the poor, in-
stead of increafing, will gradually, dimi-
nilh, till none be left but proper objects of
charity, fuch as have been reduced to in-
digence by old age or innocent misfortune.
And if that rule be strictly adhered to, the
maintenance of the poor will not be az
heavy burden. After all, a house for the
poor may possibly be a frugal fcheme in
England where the parish-rates are high,
in the town of Bedford for example. In
Scotland, it is undoubtedly a very unfru-
gal scheme.

Hitherto of a poor-house with respect
to economy. There is another point of
Nill greater moment; which is to consider
the influence it has on the manners of the
inhabitants. A number of persons, fran-
gers to each other, and differing in temper
and manners, can never live confortably

,
together: will ever the fober and innocent
make a tolerable fociety with the idle and
profligate? In our poor-louses according-
ly, 9.26rels and complaints are endles.
The family fociety and that of nacio: 111-
VOL. III.

P

der

a

up there, be

der government, are prompted by the
common nature of man; and none other.
In monasteries and nunneries, envy, de-
traction, and heart-burning, never cease.
Sorry I am to observe, that in feminaries
of learning concord and good-will do not
always prevail, even among the professors.
What adds greatly to the disease in a poor-
house, is that the people shut
ing secure of maintenance, are reduced to
a state of absolute idleness, for it is in vain
to think of making them work: they have
no care, nothing to keep the blood in mo-
tion. Attend to a state fo different from
what is natural to us. Those who are in-
nocent and harınless, will languish, turn
dispirited, and tire of life. Those of a
bustling and restless temper, will turn four
and peevith for want of occupation: they
will inurmur against their superiors, pick
quarrels with their neighbours, and fow
difcord every where.

where. The worst of all is, that a poor-house never fails to corrupt the morals of the inhabitants : nothing rends fa inuch to proinote vice and immorality, as idleness among a number of low people collected in one place. Among no fot of people does profigacy more a

bound,

bound, than among the seamen in Greenwich hospital.

A poor-house tends to corrupt the body no less than the mind. It is a nursery of diseases, fostered by dirtiness and crouding.

To this scene let us oppose the condition of those who are supported in their own houses. They are laid under the necessity of working with as much assiduity as ever; and as the sum given them in charity is at their own disposal, they are careful to lay it out in the most frugal manner. If by parsimony they can save

any

small is their own; and the hope of encreasing this little stock, supports their spirits and redoubles their industry. They live innocently and comfortably, because they live industriously; and industry, as every one knows, is the chief pleasure of life to those who have acquired the habit of being constantly employ’d.

part, it

SKETCH

A Great City confidered in Physical, Moral,

cud Political Views.

IN

N all ages an opinion has been preva

lcnt, that a great city is a great evil ; and that a capital may be too great for the state, as a head may be for the body. Considering however the very

thallow reasons that have been given for this opinion, it should seem to be but slightly founded. There are several ordinances limiting the extent of Paris, and prohibiting new buildings beyond the prescribed bounds; the first of which is by Henry II. ann. 1549. Thefe ordinances have been renewed from time to tine, down to the 1672, in which year

there is an edict of Louis XIV. to the same purpose. The reasons assigned are, “ First, That by enlarging the city, the « air would be rendered unwholesome.

Second, That cleaning the streets would

prove a great additional labour. Third, “ That adding to the number of inhabi

tants would raise the price of provi

« fions,