pointed by the Will, and therefore never blended with the estates of The Corporation. Until within thirty years ago, the Trustees, in the execution of their trusts under the Will, lent various sums, within the limited amount, to persons answering the description in the Will, of which Loans a regular account was always kept. It appears, that some Losses were occasionally sustained upon those Loans, which seem to have induced the Trustees to adopt the resolution of confining their future Loans to One hundred Pounds.

Considerable losses have been sustained by occasional Insolvencies of the Sureties in the several Bonds given by the Borrowers, and also from the facility with which such persons have been relieved from such obligations by the operation of the Act for the relief of Insolvent Debtors. Until within the last three years the Trustees required three Sureties, in addition to the Obligees' names, in the Bond,but, in consequence of frequent failures in payment, they have, from that period,

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required an additional Surety, making, altogether, five persons liable upon the Bond. Great pains are taken to ascertain the responsibility of persons offering themselves as Sureties, but it has been found impossible to secure the Fund from Losses on this account.

It is not considered necessary to notify this Charity in any special manner to the Public, it's existence being, it is said, a matter of notoriety in the City.

The application is agreeable to a printed form, specifying the name of the party applying,—his trade,-place of residence and parish in which the same is situate,→ and also the precise period in which he has been engaged in his present situation in business on his own account.

A Recommendation is required, to be signed by some Member of The Corporation of London, or Tradesman of respectability, stating their belief that the Applicant can strictly comply with the conditions required, and that he is a fit and proper person to have the benefit of Mr. WILSON'S bequest.

The substance of the Deposition, which is required to be made by every person to whom the Loan is advanced, is,

That he has been set up in business one year, and not more than two years :

That he has gained, and not lost, since he has been in business:

That he does not owe more than he is able to pay :That he does not deal in spirituous liquors :

That he is a Protestant, and lives within three miles of the City of London:

And that the Loan for which he now applies, is for his own use, and not for the benefit of his Securities, or any other person.

No application will be attended to, that is not made conformably to the foregoing conditions, nor will any persons be accepted as Sureties, who are not persons of property and known respectability. The residence of the parties to whom reference is to be made, should be confined, if possible, to the City of London. The Bond for the repayment of the money is joint and several, each person being liable for the whole, or any part thereof.

Applications are frequently made, so as to call for the employment of nearly all this money in the way directed.5

5 Rep. x. p. 186.

LOST CHARITIES.

In the returns made to Parliament in 1786, and also upon the tables of Benefactions in several Churches, various Charitable bequests are mentioned, but as the dates of the Wills are not recorded, and as there are no Deeds or Documents of any kind relating to those gifts, now to be found or known to be in existence, these donations are respectively stated to be lost, in the Parishes where such instances occur.

One instance occurs of a Donation being lost, in consequence of it's not having been claimed within the limited time prescribed by the Donor.1

But there are other deprivations of a more flagitious and extended nature, where the rights of the Poor are shamefully withholden, from the belief that the expense of enforcing them would be greater than Rep. XIII. p. 460.

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the justice demanded. These are small Rent-charges, and although there appears to The Commissioners to be little doubt, that the payments are improperly detained, yet, considering the small amount of them, and the uncertainty there may be, of substantiating the claims, they do not think it expedient to recommend any application to be made for the assistance of a Court of Justice to establish these rights.2

Upon such Losses as have occurred through Carelessness, The Commissioners speak with grave reproof, as they cannot but observe with seriousness on the lamentable negligence of the Parish Officers of Wolverhampton, respecting the collection of the several Doles,—by which it not only appears, that from the year 1808, at least down to the year 1818, the poor people did not receive more than one half of the benefit to which they were entitled, but that many of the Doles were in great danger of being absolutely lost. The pre

2 Rep: vi. p. 605.