194 A Hint to Country Parishes. Mr. Shaw agreed in this point, but differed with Mr. Ellifon in the opinion he entertained of his influence. He allowed it his duty to do all the good in his power, but afferted that power to be very fmall, fince it depended on the attention and undertanding of his hearers, the latter of which was circumfcribed within very narrow bounds, and the first less than could be imagined; adding, "That he did not believe a tenth part of his audience remembered, after they were out of church, one word of what they had heard in it." Mr. Ellifon replied, "He was entirely of the fame opinion; but that the church was not the only place where a clergyman ought to endeavour to do good, as it was perhaps there that he did the leaf, except he pursued the fame plan in other places; for he was well convinced, that if a clergyman would make frequent vifits to his parishioners, familiarly explain the fundamentals of the Christian religion, and affectionately urge obedience to its precepts, he would find his endeavours greatly fuccefsful; and his audience, after being thus inftructed, would liften with attention to his fermons, because they would understand them; and obferve the doctrine, because their minds were previously well prepared to receive it." Mr. Shaw was confcious Mr. Ellifon advised no more than it was his duty to perform; but the disagreeable terms on which he and his parishioners had lived, ferved as an excufe to his confcience for omitting the practice. He had not, indeed, ever confidered it either as quite so important to others, or fo incumbent on himself, as Mr. Ellifon, by a long conversation on the fubject, convinced him it was; but in fpight of his conviction, Mr. Ellison perceived fome reluctance in him to begin a duty, the performance of which was a kind of tacit reflexion upon himself for paft omiffions. To render the matter more easy, therefore, Mr. Ellifon invited him to make one at his Sunday's party; it being ufual with him on this day, to entertain a certain number of the farmers and decent labourers of his parish at dinner, at his own table, to which no April other company was then admitted'; where he endeavoured in the course of eafy and familiar converfation to inftruct them gradually, and feem ingly without defign, and to inftil in the fame imperceptible manner fuch fentiments into their minds, as had never yet found entrance there. This hofpitable cuftom, had greatly facilitated the reconciliation he had effected between Mr. Shaw and his parish; and it offered Mr. Shaw a good opportunity of becoming more familiarly acquainted with his parishioners; and alfo by his affiftance, Mr. EHifon did not doubt but the converfation would be rendered ftill more useful to them. This invitation Mr. Shaw readily accepted; and to remove totally any remaining reluctance in him to go to their houses, Mr. Ellifon engaged him to walk abroad frequently with him, and feldom failed carrying him into the cottages they paffed in their way; till his appearing among them became familiar, and he with eafe to himself proceeded to vifit them even unaccompanied; a condefcenfion received with humble gratitude; for Mr. Ellison had. by the refpect with which he treated Mr. Shaw, greatly raised him in their opinions, and created a kind of reverence in them for their minifter, which was very effential towards the proper reception of his doctrine; for as Mr. Ellifon was fenfible that a clergyman's power of doing good is proportionate to the refpect his parishioners bear him, he faw it his duty to excite it. Mr. Ellifon perceived that in his own and the adjacent parishes, a few of the richer fort had ufurped the whole government of the parish, excluding all who were not in league with them from any of the public offices; and as it was done merely with a defign of advancing their private interests, it occafioned great oppreffion of the poorer fort, by the illegal rates and affefles they arbitrarily levied; and many other exertions of the power which wealth gave them, over people too poor to contend, in a country where the procefs of the law is fo expenfive, that the rich only can purchate its protection, while thofe who ftand moit in need of it are excluded from all hopes of redress. Thefe practices he determined to put ал 1766. A Mirror for Juftices of the Peace. an end to, not only in his own parith, but as far as the authority of a justice of the peace could extend; for nothing but want of power appeared to him a just boundary to benevolence; for this purpose he obtained admiffion to that bench, which, if the office were executed with difcretion, vigilance, and integrity, would prove one of the moft valuable bleffings in the British conftitution. But few fee it in fo important, a light as Mr. Dillifon, who thought it his duty to qualify himfelf by the study of all the branches of the law, which concern the execution of the office of a justice of peace; wherein he obferved many inexcufably ignorant. He took care to be well acquainted with the extent of his power, as well as with the propereft means of exercising it; and convinced that he could not do a more charitable action than to plead the cause of the widow and the poor, he undertook to profecute thofe who were guilty of any unlawful oppreffions. This he performed with fuccefs in two cases; and the damages granted the injured were fo confiderable, as fufficiently to deter others from rendering themselves liable to the fame fentence. Mr. Ellifon, by his authority as juftice of peace, fuppreffed all diforderly meetings, leffened the number of public houses, and obliged those that remained, to preferve a very uncom mon degree of fobriety and regularity. It was not in his power abfolutely to prevent that fucceffion of fairs or wakes, which take the people from their work, during one or two of the bufieft months in fummer; but he fuppreffed fo many of the entertainments exhibited at them, and fo Atrictly watched over their meetings, that he rendered them too dull and fober to be any great temptation even to the most idle. This care he extended as far as his jurifdiction reached, to the great improvement both of the morals and the circumstances of the poor, for many miles round his houfe. He did not oblige any one to go to church, because he thought it should be a matter of choice; but he would not fuffer his neighbours to engage in any amusement during divine fervice, nor to país that time in ale-houLes; this prohibition brought moft of them to church, as they had no lon 195 ger any temptation to abfent themfelves from it, and they foon began to feel a better inducement for going thither, than having nothing to do in any other place; and what at first was the refult of idleness, became their conftant practice from inclination." НЕ Encomium on Trade and Commerce, from The Fool of Quality, Vol. I. An InAructive Piece, lately published. "THE wealth, profperity, and importance of every thing upon earth arifes from the tiller, the manufacturer and the merchant; and as nothing is truly eftimable, fave in proportion to its utility, these are, confequently, very far from being contemptible characters. The til ler fupplies the manufacturer, the manufacturer fupplies the merchant, and the merchant fupplies the world with all its wealth. It is thus that industry is promoted, arts invented and improved, commerce extended, fuperfluities mutually vended, wants naturally fupplied, that each man becomes a useful member of fociety, that focieties become further of advantage to each other, and that ftates are enabled to pay and dignify their upper fervants with titles, rich revenues, principalities and crowns. The merchant, above all, is extenfive, confiderable, and refpectable by his occupation. It is he who furnishes every comfort, convenience, and elegance of life; who carries off every redundance, who fills up every want; who ties country to country, and clime to clime, and brings the remotest regions to neighbourhood and converse; who makes man to be literally the lord of the creation, and gives him an interest in whatever is done upon earth; who furnishes to each the product of all lands, and the labours of all nations; and thus knits into one family and weaves into one web the affinity and brotherhood of all mankind. I am fenfible that the gentlemen of large landed properties are apt to look upon themselves as the pillars of the state, and to confider their interefts and the interefts of the nation, as very little beholden or dependant on trade; though the fact is, that thofe very gentlemen would lofe nine parts in ten of their yearly returns, and the С с г nation 196 Encomium on Trade and Commerce. nation nine tenths of her yearly re- A nation that is a merchant has no need of an extent of lands, as it can derive to itself fubfiftence from all parts of the globe. Tyre was fituated in a imali ifland on the coast of Phoenicia, and yet that fingle city contained the most flourishing, opulent, and powerful nation in the universe; a nation that long with flood the united forces of the three firft monarchies, brought against her by Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander the Great. The feven united provinces do not contain lands fufficient for the fubfiftence of one third of their inhabitants; but they are a nation of merchants; the world furnishes them with an abundance of all good things; by commerce they have arrived at empire; they have affumed to themselves the principality of the ocean; and by being lords of the ocean, are in a meafure become the proprietors of alllands, Should England ever open her eyes to her own interefts, the will follow the fame profperous and ennobling profeffion; he will conform to the confequences of her fituation. She will fee, that without a naval pre-eminence, the cannot be fafe; and without trade her naval power cannot be fupported, April Her glory will alfo flow from this fource of her interefts, and a fail yard will become the higheft fcepter of her dignity. She will then find that a fingie triumph of her flag will be more available for her profperity than the conqueft of the four continents; that her pre-eminence by fea will carry and diffufe her influence over all lands; and that univerfal influence is univerfal dominion. Avarice may pile; robbery may plunder; new mines may be opened; hidden treasures may be difcovered; gameters may win cash; conquerors may win kingdoms; but all fuch means of acquiring riches are tranfient and determinable. While industry and commerce are the natural, the living, the never-failing fountains, from whence the wealth of this world can alone be taught to flow." A Family Picture. From The Vicar of a large family, did more fervice than However, we loved each other tenderly, and our fondnefs increased with age. There was in fact nothing that could make us angry with the world or each other. We had an elegant houle, fituated in a fine country, and in a good neighbourhood. The year was ipent in moral or rural amufements; in vifiting our rich neighbours, or relieving fuch as were poor. We had no revolutions to fear, nor fatigues to undergo; all our adven tures 197 ufually in three or four days we began to wonder how they vext us. My children, the offspring of temperance, as they were educated without foftness, fo they were at once well formed and healthy; my fons hardy and As we lived near the road, we often had the traveller or ftranger come to tafte our gooseberry wine, for which we had great reputation; and I pro-active, my daughters beautiful and fefs with the veracity of an hiftorian, that I never knew one of them find fault with it. Our coufins too, even to the fortieth remove, all remembered their affinity, without any help from the herald's office, and came very frequently to fee us. Some of them did us no great honour by these claims of kindred; for literally speaking, we had the blind, the maimed, and the halt amongst the number. However, my wife always insisted that as they were the fame flesh and blood with us, they fhould fit with us at the fame table: So that if we had not very rich, we generally had very happy friends about us; for this remark will hold good through life, that the poorer the gueft, the better pleafed he ever is with being treated; and as fome men gaze with admiration at the colours of a tulip, and others are finitten with the wing of a butterfly, fo I was by nature an admirer of happy human faces. However, when any one of ur relations was found to be a perfon of very bad character, a troublefome gueft, or one we defired to get rid of, upon his leaving my houfe for the first time, I ever took care to lend him a riding coat, or a pair of boots, or fometimes an horfe of fmall value; and I always had the fatisfaction of finding he never came back to return them. By this the houfe was cleared of fuch as we did not like; but never was the family of Wakefield known to turn the traveller or the poor independant out of doors. Thus we lived feveral years in a ftate of much happiness, not but that we fometimes had thofe little rubs which providence fends to enhance the value of its other favours. My orchard was often robbed by schoolboys, and my wife's cuftards plundered by the cats or the children. The fquire would fometimes fall asleep in the most pathetic parts of my ter mon, or his lady return my wife's civilities at church with a mutilated eurtefy, but we foon got over the uncafinefs caused by fuch accidents, and blooming. When I ftood in the midst of the little circle, which promised to be the fupports of my declining age, I could not avoid repeating the famous ftory ofcount Abenberg, who, in Henry II's progrefs through Germany, when other courtiers came with their treafure, brought his thirty-two children, and prefented them to his fovereign, as the most valuable offering he had to bestow. In this manner, though I had but fix, I considered them as a very valuable present made to my country, and confequently looked upon it as my debtor. Our eldeft fon was named George after his uncle, who left us ten thousand pounds. Our fecond child, a girl, l'intended to call after her aunt Griffel; but my wife, who during her pregnancy had been reading romances, infifted upon her being called Olivia. In less than another. year we had a daughter again, and now I was determined that Griffel fhould be her name; but a rich relation taking a fancy to ftand godmother, the girl was, by her directions, called Sophia; fo that we had two romantic names in the family; but I folemnly proteft I had no hand in it. Mofes was our next, and after an interval of twelve years, we had two fons more. It would be fruitless to deny my exultation when I faw my little ones about me; but the vany and the fatisfaction of my wife were even greater than mine. When our vifitors would ufually fay, "Well, upon my word, Mrs. Primrofe, you have the finest children in the whole country.""Ay, neighbour", fhe would answer, "they are as heaven made them, handsome enough, if they be but good enough; for handfome is that handfome does." And then he would bid the girls hold up their heads; who, to conceal nothing were certainly very handfome. Mere outfide is fo very trifling a circumftance with me, that I should fcarce have remembered to mention it, had it not been a general topic of converfation in the country. Olivia, now about eighteen, had that luxuriancy of 198 Punishments fhould not be rendered Familiar. of beauty with which painters generally draw Hebe; open, fprightly, and commanding. Sophia's features were not so striking at first; but often did more certain execution, for they were foft, modeft and alluring. The one vanquished by a fingle blow, the other by efforts fuccefsfully repeated. The temper of a woman is generally formed from the turn of her features, at leaft it was fo with my daughters. Olivia wished for many lovers; Sophia to fecure one. Olivia was often affected from too great a defire to pleafe: Sophia even repreffed excellence from her fears to offend. The one entertained me with her vivacity when I was gay, the other with her fenfe when I was ferious. But these qualities were never carried to excefs in either, and I have often feen them exchange characters for a whole day together. A fuit of mourning has transformed my coquet into a prude, and a new set of ribbands given her younger fifter more than natural vivacity. My eldeft fon George was bred at Oxford, as I intended him for one of the learned profeffions. My fecond boy Mofes, whom I defigned for bufinefs, received a fort of a mifcellaneous education at home. But it would be needlefs to attempt defcribing the particular characters of young people that had feen but very little of the world. In short, a family likeness prevailed through all, and properly Speaking they had but one character, that of being all equally generous, credulous, fimple, and inoffenfive." The family falling to decay, he fends forth his eldest fon to feek his fortune: : "You are going, my boy," cried I, "to London on foot, in the manner Hooker, your great ancestor, travelled there before you. Take from me the fame horse that was given him by the good bishop Jewel, this ftaff, and take this book too, it will be your comfort on the way thefe two lines in it are worth a million: I bave been young, and now am old; yet never faw I the righteous man forfaken, or bis feed begging their bread. Let this be your confolation as you travel on. Go, my boy, whatever be thy fortune let me fee thee once a year; ftill keep a good heart, and farewell." As he was poffeft of integrity and honour, I was under no apprehenfions from throwing him naked April into the ampibtheatre of life; for I knew he would act a good part whether he rose or fell." We cannot spare room to follow the thread of this ienfibie novel throughout; but will venture on the following detached extract as it corroborates the sentiments of a late correfpondent. (p. 59.) "It were highly to be wifhed, that legislative power would direct the law rather to reformation than feverity. That it would appear convinced that the work of eradicating crimes is not by making punishments familiar, but formidable. Instead of our prefent prifons, which find or make men guilty, which enclose wretches for the commiffion of one crime, and return them, if returned alive, fitted for the perpetuation of thoufands; it were to be wished we had, as in other parts of Europe, places of penitence and folitude, where the accufed might be attended by fuch as could give them repentance if guilty, or new motives to virtue if innocent. And this, but not the increasing punifhments, is the way, to mend a state: Nor can I avoid even questioning the validity of that right which focial combination, have affumed of capitally punithing offences of a flight nature. In cafes of murder their right is obvious, as it is the duty of us all, from the law of felf-defence, to cut off that man who has fhewn a difregard for the life of another. Against fuch, all nature rifes in arms; but it is not fo against him who steals my property. Natural law gives me no right to take away his life, as by that the horse he steals is as much his property as mine. If then I have any right, it must be from a compact made between us, that he who deprives the other of his horse fhall die. But this is a falfe compact; because no man has a right to barter his life, no more than to take it away, as it is not his own. And next the compact is inadequate, and would be fet afide even in a court of modern equity, as there is a great penalty for a very trifling convenience; fince it is far better that two men fhould live than that one should ride. But a compact that is falfe between two men, is equally fo between an hundred, or an hundred thousand; for as ten mil lions of circles can never make a fquare, fo the united voice of myriads cannot lend |
