in Norfolk and Suffolk; and we can from good authority affure him, that they have not contributed there to the decrease of the poor's rates, which in one of thofe counties, where workhouses have been long established, are increased to fuch a degree, as to caufe ftrong contefts and difputes amongst the parties concerned, and aukward fchemes to be tried for regulating the affeff ments *. This gentleman is of opinion, that the laws now in force, if put in execution, are likely to prove efficacious in preventing the increase of the poor's rates: amongst these are some regulations relative to the registering the names of perfons admitted to have relief; to there being kept a convenient flock of flax, hemp, wool, thread, iron, and other ware and stuff in every parish, to fet the poor to work; to the parish officers fetting up any trade, for the fetting to work and better relief of the poor; and to the paupers being obliged to wear a badge. One thing, however, it might be worth while to apply to parliament for; and that is, for a proper power in the justices to appoint an inspector, or middle man between them and the overfeers, to overlook a certain number of parishes, with a convenient falary; to examine what perfons are upon the lifts, and the reasons of their admiffion, with power to ftrike off those they think improper objects, and to admit fuch as appear to have been unjustly refufed by the veftry and officers; to fee that all fuch regularly wear the badge; to have a particular eye to fuch boys and girls as are not put out to trades or fervice at proper ages, or do not keep to fervice afterwards; or to fuch fingle men or women as lay upon their own hands before they have been married, unless rendered unfit for fervice by old age or other infirmities, from whence many of our present mischiefs relating to the poor undoubtedly flow; to fee that all the poor laws are duly executed; and to call a veftry in each parish within their diftricts once every quarter, or oftener if need requires; and to make a report thereof to the juftices of the divifion, at a fpecial feffion to be held quarterly for that purpofe. And if there is a workhouse within any of their districts, to have a further power to infpect the management of the houfe, to repri mand and inflict fome flight punishment on the paupers, and even on the mafter or mistress, in cafe of mifbehaviour; and, if occafion be, to order the officers and veftry to remove them, and to chufe others in their room; as well as to take care that no improper perfon is admitted into it; with an appeal, in all these *The directors of the Heckingham House do, indeed, affert, that much expence is fpared by it, but this is owing chiefly to the veheinent diflike which the poor have to a workhouse, so that many chuse rather to starve at home, than to apply to the directors. But when they are convinced that the treatment of paupers in that house is gentle and humane, they will apply for admittance as readily as is done at Norwich, where their number is very great, and the rates exceedingly burthenfome. cafes, eafes, either for the infpectors, overfeers, parishioners, or pauper, to the next fpecial feffions; and from thence, if need be, to the quarter-feffions. Such an officer might be very useful, and worth an application to parliament, to try the experiment for a certain number of years: let us suppose seven, for it would be wrong at firft to make it perpetual, becaufe nothing but the experience of the thing can certainly fhew its utility. Such a term is fufficient to judge whether it will be worth while to conzinue it; and it will be always found easier to get another act to render it perpetual, than, if it was made fo at first, to procure its repeal, in case it should turn out a burthen only without any use. This scheme would not alter the laws in any respect; on the contrary, it would be the means of inforcing them, and therefore feems well worth the trial, much preferable to that of general work houses, and will cot a trifle; for the expence of a proper falary to an inspector cannot be great, when divided between a number of parishes, and will ceafe with the office if it does not fucceed; whereas the building of houfes must be attended with a very great expence at firft; and, fhould the project fail in its fuccefs, it will remain a heavy load on every parish by the debt contracted for that purpose, if it fhould be thought proper to borrow the money; or, if it is raised at once, will be an intolerable burthen on the prefent occupiers, and occafion a deal of clamour. If then an application to parliament is judged neceffary, let it be for appointing an infpector, with fufficient powers, during a certain term of years, only by way of experi ment; fhould it answer the intent, it may be foon made perpetual.' We are of opinion, with our author, that the appointment of fuch an infpector might prove of great utility in remedying the evil complained of. 42. Obfervations on the Bill intended to be offered to Parliament for the better Relief and Employment of the Poor. In a Letter to a Member of Parliament. By Richard Burn, LL. D. 8vo. Is. Cadell. Various are the fchemes which have been propofed for rendering the maintenance of the poor lefs burthenfome; several of which have been carried into execution, but without having the defired effect. This Herculean tafk is, therefore, ftill to be performed, and we forefee no great probability of fuccefs. The mode in agitation, which gave rife to this pamphlet, is that of establishing one or more workhoufes in every county, according to its fize, for the reception of the poor belonging to fuch county, or to fuch part of it, as each workhouse may belong to; which, it is urged, would render it poffible to maintain the poor at a lefs expence, than that at which they are at prefent maintained in their separate parishes, and to turn their labour to better account. If certain and regular employment can be obtained for the poor in thefe workhouses, perhaps (for we are not entirely of this opinion) the latter argument may have weight, but that the poor can be maintained cheaper in thefe houfes, than according to the common mode we very much doubt. There will never, in a workhouse, be that oeconomy practifed in the distribution of food and raiment, that the poor practise in their own families; and a family permitted to make ufe of its own earnings, and affifted by fmall allowances from a parish, will fubfift at less expence than it would require to fupport it in a workhouse, where they would not submit to make fach fhifts as they would at home, and where they would ftill be lefs contented. Dr. Burn is of opinion, that fundry regulations propofed in the bill in queftion would be productive of inconvenience and expence. The first regulation is, that after the poor fhall have been conveyed to the workhouses, no poor perfon fhall be removed by order of the juftices from one parish, township, or place, to another within the fame county, but that all poor perfons wanting relief within fuch county, fhall be fent to the house of industry within the district; and if the fettlement of fuch perfon shall be in another county, he shall be removed to the fame by order of the justices, on complaint of the governors fignified by their clerk.' Dr. Burn objects to this, because the complaint is not to be made by the parifh-officers, and because it will require a total alteration in the established form of an order of removal. This, however, in our opinion, is not a material objection, fince, when the governors know the occafion of complaint, it would be fparing trouble, to permit their making the complaint, rather than the parish officers under their direction. The fecond is, that no poor perfon fhall be removed by order of the juftices from or to any county which shall have been formed into districts under this act, or from any hundred, city, town, diftrict, or place incorporated under this or any other act for the relief and employment of their poor, until fuch person fhall have been actually and bona fide chargeable to fuch county, hundred, city, town, diftri&t, or place.' This clause, he observes, strikes at the root of all the acts of parliament relating to the removal and fettlement of the poor, and of the whole complicated doctrine of certificates founded thereupon; and not being univerfal, would be productive of much confufion, as two kinds of fettlements would be going on at one time. This objection certainly is well founded, as is that to the third regulation, which alfo relates to removals. Our author's difapprobation of the main fcheme, the establishing of workhoufes, does honour to his philanthropy. Dr. Burn has added, by way of Appendix, his obfervations on this fubject in his History of the Poor Laws. 1 43. An Addrefs to the Members of Parliament upon the Neceffity of paffing an Ad to confine the Proprietors of Stage Carriages and Porters to Inns, to certain Rates for the Carriage and Por terage of Goods. 800. Is. Bew. The title of this Addrefs fufficiently elucidates the purport of it; and with respect to the expediency of the act propofed, we leave it to the confideration of the legiflature. POETRY. 44. The Breathings of Genius. Being a Collection of Poems; to which are added Essays, moral and philofophical. By Elizabeth Gilding. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Wilkie. The author of this production informs us that her firft defign in writing, was either to conduce to her own amufement, or improve herself in the art of thinking. The fruits of an intention fo innocent and laudable are entitled to the most candid reception; we therefore concur with her in wifhing at leaft that "The Breathings of her Genius" may not be unacceptable to the public. 45. Edwald and Ellen, an beroic Ballad. In two Cantos, By Mr. Thistlethwaite. 4ra. 15. 6d. Murray. This ballad, though not entirely void of poetical merit, is fo much disfigured with a profufion of incongruous imagery, that it hardly can afford any pleasure to a reader of taste. Mr. Thistlethwaite feems to be particularly fond of the art of perfonification, but he ufes it with great impropriety. He is, we believe, the first author that ever described Virtue with her breaft. But Ruin with gigantic ftride "Affail the gates of Virtue's breaft. gates in The idea of converting Candour into the bafe of Virtue's throne, betrays a very Gothic talent for poetical defigning. O thou, the base of Virtue's throne, To thee, bright Candour, I appeal.' In the following lines, the ideal perfonage Surprise, is defcribed as refembling a Merry Andrew. Awhile Surprize, in antic veft, Their speech in filken fetters bound.' As another inftance of Mr. Thistlethwaite's invention, we fhall prefent our readers with the fubfequent ftanza, where Sympathy, an allegorical being likewise, is reprefented as beftriding Sigh. Attentive to the tender tale, We We appeal to Mr. Thiftlethwaite, whether he would not be fhocked with the ridiculous fancy of a painter who should, if poffible, reprefent Sympathy, riding at full gallop upon a Sigh, to lay hold of the heart of Virtue, to which, that the rider might have the more commodious accefs, the artist had placed gates in her breaft. Such a picture might really excite the emotion Surprize, whether that perfonage was habited in an antic vest or not, and might even force Candour to shake his fides with laughing, though he had to fupport the whole incumbent weight both of Virtue and her throne. 46. Netherby: a Poem. By Mr. Maurice. 4to. 25. 6d. Kearfly. Netherby, the fubject of this poem, is fituated on the borders of Cumberland, twelve miles north of Carlisle; and was formerly a Roman ftation, bearing the name of the Caftra Exploratorum. We know of few defcriptive poems that can boaft a greater number of interefting episodes than the present, or in which thofe are interwoven with more beautiful and animated colouring. It appears that this is the production of the author of The School Boy, a poem which we formerly mentioned in honourable terms †. 47. Ugbrooke Park: a Poem. 4to. 25. Robfon. The beauties of Ugbrooke Park are defcribed in a lively and picturefque ftrain of poetry. Indeed a place that was far lefs remarkable for local ornaments than this feat of lord Clifford, might make no mean figure in poetical defcription, under the pen of an author who fo much indulges the creative wantonefs of imagination; of which we have an instance, in the metamorphofis of spears into oak trees. 48. The Exhibition of Fancy; a Vifion. 4to. 15. 6d. KearЛly. This poem, which is written in blank verfe, is intended to celebrate the fuccessful progrefs of the fine arts in Britain, in the prefent age. Did all the performances of the kind breathe an equal fpirit with this production, we might entertain an opinion that poetry flourished among us, as well as painting and sculpture. 49. The Temple of Mammon. 4to. IS. Davies. The general plan of vifionary, as well as of real temples, has frequently been adopted by fucceeding artists, whether in poetry or architecture. Accordingly the author of the prefent pro duction feems to have had in view The Temple of Fame, when he compofed this imaginary structure; which, it must however be acknowledged, is not deficient refpecting either the juftnefs of the allegory, or the brilliancy of description. † See Crit. Rev, vol. xxxix. p. 424. 50. The |