endeavoured to be prevented. The best means are taken, by placing the money out at interest, to improve the fund, which at this time amounts £1629. 12s. No person is admitted above the age of forty-five, nor any person in bad health or of ill fame. Honorary members pay five shillings admittance, and six shillings and sixpence a year, continuing the same yearly; and each of the other members pay two shillings and sixpence entrance, and a subscription of sixpence halfpenny the first Monday in every month in advance. If any member be taken ill or lame, and cannot pursue her usual employment, (provided her misfortune does not arise from her own misconduct) she is allowed three shillings and sixpence per week for the first month of her confinement, and afterwards two shillings and sixpence a week, as long as the stewards think proper, until she shall recover. Twenty shillings is paid to a married woman, on the death of her husband, and five shillings for each of her children then living under the age of fourteen years. The monthly subscription of each single member and widow ceases at fifty-eight years of age, provided she has had no relief, (if otherwise, at sixty) and she then is to be paid the sum of £ 4. per annum for life, provided she became a member previous to, and £2. 12s. if after a certain year, and in either case exonerated from further payments.

From the time of the establishment, 1st February 1796, to 1st February 1827, this society has paid the aggregate sum of £1462. 11s. thirty-five women, on an average, being benefited by it in each year, viz.

Twenty annuitants are now on the list, receiving £ 4. per annum during life.

The intention of the ladies was to have kept one hundred benefited members constantly upon the list, but when the annuities commenced, the income was discovered to be very inadequate to fulfil the claims thereon, which made it necessary to institute an inquiry into the state of the fund, the result of which was a resolution, that the then present members should receive annuities of £4. per annum, and that the future annuities to all members thereafter admitted should be £2. 12s. On account of the insufficiency of the fund, it was found necessary, in the year 1803, to reduce the number of persons benefited from one hundred to sixty, which have been since increased to eighty, where it is now stationary.*

* The extent or usefulness of this charity is not so generally known as ought to be; it is possessed of peculiar claims upon the benevolent, under which impression, the compiler has been more copious in its description; for in sickness and old age, our fellow creatures have claims upon the feelings of their more affluent neighbours, and where can our abundance be bestowed

CLOTHING THE NECESSITOUS POOR

is another excellent charity, instituted in the year 1816, supported by ladies. The donations are from three to six shillings, and the tickets are distributed to the poor in winter. The committee are always happy in expressing their grateful acknowledgments to such ladies as kindly aid the design of the institution by presents in clothing.

OTHER FRIENDLY SOCIETIES

for raising subscriptions amongst the male members thereof, or by voluntary contributions for their mutual relief, or maintenance of their members in old age, sickness, and infirmity, or for the relief of the widows and children of deceased members, are established in the town to the number of five, consisting altogether of more than four hundred and eighty members. The effects of these popular institutions are very salutary and beneficial to those who are most interested in their success-the mechanics and labourers of the kingdom. The smallness of the sums contributed renders their payments to be scarcely felt as a privation; while the assistance afforded in cases of sickness is of the utmost importance to the poor and their families. They also create a spirit of independence, the best antidote to the evils of the poor rate, and consequently induce habits of forethought, prudence, and industry. Besides these

more laudably, than in relieving the necessities of deserving and industrious sick and aged persons? Mrs. Metcalfe, the worthy secretary, who feels the strongest interest in promoting the benefits of this institution, has kindly furnished the compiler with the above particulars relating to it.

public charities, there are many subscriptions for benevolent purposes, as well amongst those professing the principles of the established church, as amongst christians of other denominations, both collectively and individually, and several benefit or amicable societies are well supported.*

RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENTS.

Manifold as are the blessings, says Southey, for which Englishmen are beholden to the institutions of their country, there is no part of these institutions from which they derive more important advantages, than from its church establishment. That venerable church has provided in her liturgy a form of prayer, so beautiful, so devout, so correct, so scriptural, so admirably adapted, both as to its matter and language, "for all sorts and "conditions of men," that it has been frequently, and with much propriety, denominated the first of uninspired compositions. We cannot but consider those congregations who are deprived of it, however pious and efficient their ministers may be, as sustaining a great loss. We will not venture to assert that any division of the visible church of Christ is exclusively modelled on the standard of perfection: the members of every church should exercise mutual charity and forbearance, for it becomes the children of God to divest themselves of that bigotry which inclines some men to consider no others as Christians, but those who belong to their own church.

* The annual revenue derived from public charities in England, arising from rents and profits of messuages, lands, tenements, and hereditaments, from dividends belonging to any corporation or society of persons, or of any trust for charitable persons, is very considerable, and is said to amount to £972,399. 11s. The annual revenue in Wales, for similar purposes, to £3,519. 13s. 11d.; and in Scotland, to £53,079. 3s. 11d., making a gross total for England, Wales, and Scotland of £1,028,998. 8s. 10d.

The true Christian will love all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity; he will admit that no part of the visible church is free from imperfections, and will acknowledge also, that every part of the building, which in its essentials is erected upon the foundation laid by Christ and his apostles, contains those who are members of Christ, children of God, and heirs of Heaven. Let us then love as brethren all those whom God receives as his children, and look forward with hope and expectation to the glorious period, when the church of Christ will be one in faith, hope, and love, and all live together in the unity of the spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life. Let the spirit of Christian love and forbearance influence all our labours, and the precepts of the bible be our constant guide, whilst at the same time we admire that gracious gospel and those precious doctrines of "the truth as it is in Jesus," which God hath revealed to us in his Holy Scriptures, and which are able to make all who receive them "wise unto salvation." There are many bodies of Christians in this nation, who differ in some degree from the church of England, as established by law. No man, however, ought or is to be molested on account of his religion, who complies with the regulations required by existing statutes. In this town, those who dissent from the established church have places of worship erected for the celebration of their respective services, and in the enumeration thereof we shall commence with the

SOCIETY OF FRIENDS.

Their meeting house is situated on the North Brink, and is correspondent with the primitive simplicity of the body. They consider that true spiritual worship