580 ADDRESS the community. I profefs myself to be in the number of your warmest advocates: And as fuch, I earnestly requeft that you would indulge me with your attention for a few minutes to fome plain obfervations on your prefent fituation; to which I defire your affent no farther than they are agreeable to reafon and truth. If I miftake not, your complaints are confined to the fcarcity and dearnets of all provifions, in general; and of bread-corn, in particular. What then, we may ask, are the best and moft effectual means of removing them? And from whom are you naturally and reafonably to expect any redrefs? I fay reasonably; for he who lets his paffion get the better of his reason, and whofe expectations are either unjuft in themselves, or impoffible to be complied with, is not the man to whom I now addrefs myself: I fpeak only to the honeft, fenfible, and wellmeaning poor. The caufe of this fcarcity is, doubt. lefs, in fome measure, artificial: But a great part of it is natural; and therefore unavoidable. It must be left to the wifdom of government, as far as poffible to put a stop to the one, and to leffen the effect of the other; and I doubt not but the great affembly of the nation, which will now meet in a few weeks, will take this matter into their immediate confideration. We have an earneft of the good-will of our fuperiors to afford us all poffible relief, in thofe gracious proclamations which his majesty, out of his paternal goodness, and in compliance with a petition from this and fome other corporations, has been pleafed to iffue, to prevent the farther exportation of wheat and flour into foreign countries, and the farther consumption of them by the distillery, in our own. In the mean time, fomething may be done by ourselves: At leaft we may prevent the increase of our grievances, by retrenching our unneceffary expences, and by uting every other pru dent and honeft means of eafing ourfelves from the burdens under which we groan. My honeft, fober, induftrious neighbour, John Richardfon, is an inftance of what I mean: He has a wife and feven children: He brings in, one week with another, nine fhillings; and his children about three 1 Nov. TO more. At prefent, it certainly is 1 little hard with him: What then! John is not disheartened: On the contrary, by a frugal and cautious attention to his expences, he keeps within bounds; and contents himself with the hope and prospect of foon seeing better times. I fhall only add here, what indeed must be felf-evident, that to fpoil or deftroy any fort of provifions whatfoever, is, fo far, to increase the fcarcity we complain of: And alío, that whatever leffens the quantity of provifions that is brought to market, muft, in proportion, advance the price. Your own good fenfe will immediately tell you, that abufe and ill-treatment of those who attend and fupply our markets, will finally deter and frighten them from coming at all; and is, in fact, as unjust with respect to them, as it is imprudent and impolitic to ourselves. But you will answer, "these people provoke our resentment by the unreafonable prices they ask for their provifions." Poffibly fome of them may be extravagant in their demands: Yej, rioting is not the way to reduce them. Do not deal with fuch: Rather put up with a little inconvenience for a while, than fubinit to fuch impoftions. Well, but you will fay perhaps, "It is the duty of the magiftrates immediately to reduce the extravagant prices of all eatables." And I entirely agree with you in pronouncing this to be their duty, provided it be in their power: For to expect more of them, or of any men, than they can poffibly perform, is manifeftiy moft abfurd and unjuft. Let us then examine what is, and what is not in the power of the magiftrates, in this particular. With regard to the regulating the prices of butcher's meat, butter, and all other provifions ufually fold in our market, to tell you the truth, the magiftrates have no power at all: They cannot oblige the butchers, or the country people, to fell the commodities at any fixed rate, any more than they can oblige the grocers, drapers, or any other tradesmen, to do fo. They may indeed earneftly recommend and enforce moderation to them: They may even tax themselves, and the ret of the richer inhabitants, by voluntarily confenting to give an advanced price 1756: The Poor of Norwich. price for thofe pieces of meat, which are ufually purchafed by the people in their fituation, in order that the other may be fold cheaper to the poor: They may do this, I fay; and to their honour be it spoken, they have done it; but they can do no more. What the authority of the parliament can effect in this cafe, I am not able to determine; but we have every reason to hope that all its influence will be exerted for our relief: Our own magiftrates, however, have already done all that is in their power, with regard to these particulars: And to require more of them, would be cruel, ungenerous, and ungrateful: Qualities, by the way, that a true born Englishman always detefts and abhors. The price of bread indeed is more within their power; though by no means (as is commonly imagined) left intirely at their difcretion. In fact, they are refrained, in this particular, by law. The rules for this purpose are fixed and determined by the act; to which the magistrates must neceffa rily conform themselves. It is their duty indeed to fee that the bakers keep up to the standard fixed by law; and justice to these very useful tradesmen requires me to add, that, upon the ftricteft examinations made meerly for the fake of the poor, it appears that this ftandard has not only been honestly observed, but of late been even exceeded by the bakers of this city; who, if they had not voluntarily fub-mitted to it for the public benefit, could not have been compelled by the magiftrates to make the bread so heavy as they have done for fome weeks palt. But, you will object, "they have advanced the price of their meal and flour." True - they have; but it was advanced through neceffity: They found from experience that they were actually lofers by their business; and every one knows that it is impoffible to continue any trade on thofe terins. When the price of wheat is reduced, 581 which we have reafon to hope it will be ere long, the price of meal, &c. will be reduced with it.-Thefe are not mere affertions: They are plain truths, and real facts. And now, my good friends and fellow-citizens, before I take my leave of you, let me remind you, that fully to redress thefe, and all other public grievances, neceffarily requires fome time ---They may, and they must be increased, but can never be relieved by any tumultuous outrage, or disturbance of the peace. Remember that the fecurity of every man's property is abfolutely neceffary to the good of fociety: All rioting and tumults tend to undermine and overturn fociety; and whatever has this tendency, threatens ruin and deftruction to the poor as well as to the rich. The welfare and happiness of both are infeparable: Destroy the poor, and the rich must fall with them: Ruin the rich, and what becomes of the poor? The very nature of fociety requires different orders and degrees of men.-Suppofe all were reduced to the fame level: Suppose, if you can without horror fuppofe, this large and flourishing city to be laid in afhes, and all diftinctions thus finally removed: What, then, would be the condition of the poor? Where would be your trade? Where would the ftrong and healthy manufacturer meet with employment,---the infirm and aged with relief and fupport?--- Where would your wives and children hide their heads, or procure a morfel of bread to fatisfy their hunger? Think, for God's fake, and for your own fakes, think of thefe dreadful confequences; and endeavour to guard your minds against the infupportable miseries of difcontent, as well as against the groundless, and wicked infinuations of thofe who are enemies to your peace. I am your hearty friend and well-wisher, Anfwer to Mr. Antrobus's Firfi Queflion. T. W. IF the two angles A and B and the difference between the altitudes at which they were taken, as AB, is known, which may be easily found by erecting a ftaff at the ftation, and marking thereon the two points where the different angles were taken *. The greater the altitude from whence thefe angles are taken, and the larger the fide AB, the more exact will be the folution. Then, 582 Solutions to Mathematical Questions. Nor Then, as fine ADB : AB :: fine A: BD, which make the hypothenufe of the right-angled triangle BCD; and say, as radius: BD :: fine B: diftance DC. This is the true neareft diftance; but to make it answer to measurement, allowance must be made for the curva eD ture of the earth, as taught in most books of furveying. B 'C This might be done by one operation, if the true perpendicular height of the eye above the level of the point D could be affigned, which feldom happens, by reafon of the unevennefs of the ground. Yours, H. INGLIS. [I thank your kind correfpondents for their ingenous folutious of my question in page 656 of 1765; only there is a little miftake in the April Magazine, where the x of latitude is made fine of the course instead of co-fine, whereby the courfe will come out 25° 32'. Solution to a Queflion at page 372, London Magazine for July, 1766. By James White, at Mr. Wilkin's School, in Hexham, Northumberland. [This question is propofed and answered in Afhby's Algebra, where the breadth is made 3,29, instead of that which is found above.] 1766. Thoughts on feveral Subjects: 583 Allegro. D Thoughts on feveral Subjects. R. Young, in his fourth night, speaking, of himself, fays, "Alive by miracle, or what is next, "Alive by Mead—” The divine intended in this line and a half, without any doubt, a compliment to the phyfician, but I believe, to the ears of nine readers in ten, what he has faid will found more like fatire than a panegyric. No people are more diverting with their blunders in conversation than those who miftake the meaning of words, and by endeavouring to talk out of the vulgar tongue, make ufe of expreffions which are ever at variance with their thoughts. The fair fex are very apt to fall into errors of this kind. When Sylvia tells you the is a diffolute widow, wonders how Stella could throw herself away on a fubterraneous officer, and thinks Flavia would be a fine woman, if he had not fuch a promontory, who can refrain from withing that he would make herself miftrefs of every word, before fhe lets it drop from her lips, and thereby prevent the fneers of those who are only more wife by appearing to be lefs learned than herself? Were it not for the vices in the world, what would become of the virtues? And was it not for folly, how would wisdom have opportunities to thew its fuperiority?Virtues thine, by being contrafted to vices, and the wife man would lofe half his luflre, if a fool did not fet him off by oppofition. "Patience under our fufferings" is certainly a cardinal virtue, and devoutly to be wifhed; but till we have a happy iffue out of all our afflictions," I am afraid the fanner will get the better of the faint. Women and wine have always afforded ample materials for the pens of fatire and panegyric, as they have been followed with paffion, or with prudence, and ever will, as long as there is a bottle or a girl in the world; for fo long will they be praised by the one, and railed at by the other. That they occafion much happiness and much mifery, cannot be denied; but it is very certain, that if they were always properly pursued, their charms would never betray us. When therefore I hear or read bitter invectives against the former or the latter, I conclude, that the fatirift has smarted for his folly, and set him down, with Dogberry, for an afs. When half a dozen friends, happy in themfelves and in high humour with each other, form a party of pleasure, and fet off immediately, "quite upon an agreeable footing," they are commonly joyous while they are out, and come home in good spirits; but delay is an enemy to delight, and deliberation is the death of a frolic. Eloquence is the art of managing the paffions, and misleading the understanding. How often is a poor man roared out of his right by a powerful pleader planted against him; and how often, by the vociferation of a coxcomb at the bar, is truth cowed and virtue abashed! Tranflation is the teft of wit; if it is genuine, it will in every language preferve its fpirit. Falfe wit is merely verbal, and confined to one; on that alone it depends for the feeble luftre with which it fhines. It excites a momentary fmile, and is forgotten almost as foon as heard, and all little pertnefs totally evaporates in aver Lion. its POETICAL 584 1766. POETICAL ESSAYS. STANZAS on FORTITUDE. For here with mingled luftre fhine, And rubs on rubs are preffing, A mind prepar'd for ev'ry ill, Is fure a fulid bleffing. Without this ftrength within to bear The evils which furround us, Moft cruelly to wound us : We learn to pick good out of bad In this or that condition. By calmness ne'er forfaken, If fear did not appall us? By fear appall'd, chill'd reason shakes, So children, taught by nurses, fhrink Endure th' approach of either. To grumbling we fhould ne'er give way, In youth, in manhood, and in age, He who (with fleadinets of mind, Is ever to his lot refign'd, On earth enjoys an heaven, Verfes to a young Lady, avitb Dodfley's Collection of Poems. EAR Chloe, this poetic treafure, I'm fure, will be receiv'd with pleafure; Because you, with a tafte refin'd, Bards, by infpir'd, His shepherds talk like shepherd-fwains, He fobs o'er lovely Lucy's hearfe? And take a peaceful pipe with Browne; |