der a mistaken notion of charity. There never was known in any country, a scheme for the poor more contradictory to found policy. Might it not have been foreseen, that to a groveling creature, who has no fenfe of honour, and fcarce any of fhame, the certainty of maintenance would prove an irresistible temptation to idleness and debauchery? The poor-house at Lyons contained originally but forty beds, of which twenty only were occupied. The eight hundred beds it contains at present, are not sufficient for the poor who demand admittance. A premium is not more fuccefsful in any cafe, than where it is given to promote idleness. A house for the poor was erected in a French village, the revenue of which, by economy, became confiderable. Upon a reprefentation by the curate of the parish, that more beds were neceffary, the proprietor undertook the management. He fold the house, with the furniture; and to every proper object of charity, he ordered a moderate proportion of bread and beef. The poor and fick were more comfortably lodged at home, than formerly in the poor-house. And by that plan of management, the parish-poor decreased, instead of increasing, as at Lyons. How few English manufacturers labour the whole week, if the work of four or five days afford them maintenance? Is not this a demonftration, that the malady of idleness is widely fpred? In Bristol, the parish-poor twenty years ago did not exceed four thousand at prefent, they amount to more than ten thousand. But as a malady, when left to itself, commonly effectuates its own cure; fo it will happen in this cafe: when, by prevailing idlenefs, every one without shame claims parish-charity, the burden will become intolerable, and the poor will be left to their fhifts. The immoral effects of public charity are not confined to thofe who depend on it, but extend to their children. The conftant anxiety of a labouring man to provide for his children, endears them to him. Being relieved of that anxiety by the tax for the poor,. poor, his affection cools gradually, and he turns at last perfectly indifferent about them. Their independence, on the other hand, weans them from their duty to him. And thus, affection between parent and child, which is the corner-stone of fociety, is in a great measure obliterated among the labouring poor. In a plan published by the Earl of Hilfborough, there is an article, obliging parents to maintain their indigent children, and children to maintain their indigent parents. Natural affection must indeed be at a low ebb, where fuch a regulation is neceffary: but it is neceffary, at least in London, where it is common to fee men in good business neglecting their aged and diseased parents, for no better reason, than that the parish is bound to find them bread: Prob tempora, proh mores ! The immoral effects of public charity spread still wider. It fails not to extinguish the virtue of charity among the rich; who never think of giving charity, when the public undertakes for all. In a scheme published by Mr Hay, one article is, to raise a stock for the poor by voluntary contributions, and to make up the deficiency by a parish-tax. Will individuals ever contribute, when it is not to relieve the poor, but to relieve the parish ? Every hofpital has a poor-box, which feldom produces any thing *. The great comfort of fociety is affiftance in time of need; and its firmest cement is, the bestowing and receiving kindly offices, efpecially in diftrefs. Now to unhinge or fufpend the exercife of charity, by rendering it unneceffary, relaxes every focial virtue, by fupplanting the chief of them. The confequence is difmal: exercife of benevolence to the diftreffed is our fureft guard against * One exception I am fond to mention. The poor-box of the Edinburgh infirmary was neglected two or three years, little being expected from it. When opened, L. 74 was found in it; befide a few fhillings and halfpence, contributed probably by the lower fort, who were afhamed to give their mite publicly. the encroachments of selfishness: if that guard be withdrawn, felfishness will prevail, and become the ruling paffion. In fact, the tax for the poor has contributed greatly to the growth of that groveling paffion, fo confpicuous at present in England. English authors who turn their thoughts to the poor, make heavy complaints of decaying charity, and increafing poverty: never once dreaming, that thefe are the genuine effects of a legal provifion for the poor; which on the one hand eradicates. the virtue of charity, and on the other is a violent temptation to idleness. Wonderfully ill contrived must the English charitylaws be, when their confequences are to fap the foundation of voluntary charity; to deprive the labouring poor of their chief comfort, that of providing for themselves and children; to relax mutual affection between parent and child; and to reward, instead of punishing, idleness and vice. Confider whether a legal provifion for the poor, be fufficient to atone for fo many evils. No man had better opportunity than Fielding to be acquainted with the state of the poor: let us listen to him. "That the poor are a very great burden, and even a nuifance to the kingdom; "that the laws for relieving their distresses, and restraining their "vices, have not answered; and that they are at present very ill "provided for, and much worfe governed, are truths which e very one will acknowledge. Every person who hath property,, "must feel the weight of the tax that is levied for the poor; and every person of understanding, must see how abfurdly it is applied. So useless indeed is this heavy tax, and so wretched its difpofition, that it is a question, whether the poor or rich are actu"ally more diffatisfied, fince the plunder of the one ferves fo little to the real advantage of the other: for while a million yearly is "raised among the rich, many of the poor are starved; many more "languifh in want and mifery; of the reft, numbers are found "begging or pilfering in the streets to-day, and to-morrow are "locked "locked up in gaols and Bridewells. If we were to make a pro"grefs through the outskirts of the metropolis, and look into the "habitations of the poor, we fhould there behold fuch pictures "of human misery, as must move the compaffion of every heart "that deferves the name of human. What indeed must be his compofition, who could fee whole families in want of every neceffary of life, oppreffed with hunger, cold, nakedness, "and filth; and with difeafes, the certain confequence of all "thefe! The fufferings indeed of the poor are less known than "their mifdeeds; and therefore we are lefs apt to pity them. "They starve, and freeze, and rot, among themselves; but they beg, and steal, and rob, among their betters. There is not a "parish in the liberty of Westminster, which doth not raise "thousands annually for the poor; and there is not a street in "that liberty, which doth not fwarm all day with beggars, and "all night with thieves.” There is not a fingle beggar to be feen in Penfylvania. Luxury and idleness have got no footing in that happy country; and those who suffer by misfortune, have their maintenance out of the public treasury. But luxury and idleness cannot for ever be excluded; and when they take place, this regulation will be as pernicious in Penfylvania, as the poor-rates are in Britain. Of the many proposals that have been published for reforming the poor-laws, not one has pierced to the root of the evil. None of the authors entertain the flighteft doubt, of a legal provifion being neceffary, tho' all our distresses arise evidently from that caufe. Travellers complain, of being infested with an endless number of beggars in every English town; a very different fcene from what they meet with in Holland or Switzerland. How would it surprise them to be told, that this proceeds from an overflow of charity in the good people of England! very Few inftitutions are more ticklish than those of charity. In Lon don, don, common prostitutes are treated with fingular humanity: a hofpital for them when pregnant, difburdens them of their load, and nurses them till they be again fit for business: another hofpital cures them of the venereal disease: and a third receives them with open arms, when, instead of defire, they become objects of averfion. Would not one imagine, that thefe hofpitals have been erected for encouraging prostitution? They undoubtedly have that effect, tho' far from being intended. Mr Stirling, fuperintendant of the Edinburgh poor-house, deserves to be kept in perpetual remembrance, for a scheme he contrived to reform common prostitutes. A number of them were confined in a house of correction, on a daily allowance of three pence; and even part of that finall pittance was embezzled by the fervants of the house. Pinching hunger did not reform their manners; for being absolutely idle, they encouraged each other in vice, waiting impatiently for the hour of deliverance. Mr Stirling, with confent of the magistrates, removed them to a clean house; and instead of money, which is apt to be fquandered, appointed for each a pound of oat-meal daily, with falt, water, and fire for cooking. Relieved now from distress, they longed for comfort: what would they not give for milk or ale? Work, fays he, will procure you plenty. To fome who offered to spin, he gave flax and wheels, engaging to pay them half the price of their yarn, retaining the other half for the materials furnished. The spinners earned about nine pence weekly, a comfortable addition to what they had before. The rest undertook to spin, one after another; and before the end of the first quarter, they were all of them intent upon work. It was a branch of his plan, to fet free fuch as merited that favour; and fome of them appeared fo thoroughly reformed, as to be in no danger of a relapfe. The ingenious author of The Police of France, who wrote in the year 1753, obferves, that notwithstanding the plentiful provifion for |