overtake him to the end of his life. Teach one child to save, and others will follow the example, till industry and frugality become as common as vice and misery are now. If a boy of twelve years of age can lay by threepence a week till he is fourteen-then sixpence a week till he is sixteen-and then one shilling a week till he is eighteen, by which time he may be supposed to have learnt his business, he will have in the bank, adding the interest of his money, ten pounds; besides having acquired habits of industry and carefulness. It has been shown above, what he may lay by in the next ten years: and what he will be at the end of that time, compared with men of his own age, who have not saved, and who are neither industrious nor careful, need not be shown.

"Many, who have been wild in their youth, begin to be steady when they marry; but bad habits will break out, and an increasing family presses so hard upon those who have nothing beforehand, that they often become discouraged, and sink under the evils of poverty. They need not, however, despair―let them consider, if they have not some inclination, which they now and then indulge at the expense of some of their comforts, though the thought of it afterwards only causes them pain. Let them try to turn that inclination into an inclination for saving; it will soon grow upon them, for it gives pleasure both in deed and in thought; it will go with them to the plough, it will stay with them at the loom, and will sweeten the labour of both. Let them only make a beginning, if it is but with sixpence; if necessity compels them, they can take it back; the attempt will do them credit, and perhaps they will be more fortunate another time. Let them consider every penny they spend; let them examine if they cannot do without something which before they thought necessary. If they happen to have money in their pockets, without any immediate use for it, let them take it to the bank, and trust to their industry to supply their future wants. A shilling, not called for, soon tempts to the alehouse, it is

soon spent there, a shot is soon run up, a day's wages are soon lost, and thus five shillings are gone without thought and without profit. Now five shillings in the bank would make an excellent beginning towards rent, or towards clothing. Scrape a little money together, and some pounds in the year may be saved, by laying in potatoes, or flour, or coals at the best hand, instead of in very small quantities, and on credit. By buying two pair of good strong shoes at once, so that they may always be well dried before they are put on, and mended as soon as they want it, two pair will last as long as three that are constantly worn; here are at least ten shillings saved, besides the saving of health and strength.

"There are many other ways of saving, by means of a little money beforehand; and it is clear that a man and his family, who earn four-and-twenty shillings a week, may, by good management, live better than they did before; or, if they prefer it, may lay by a few pounds at the end of the year. If a man wants to borrow a little money on any particular occasion, or for any particular purpose, what is so likely to obtain him credit, as his having been a regular saver in the bank? If he has unfortunately not been so steady as he might have been, what is so likely to get him a character as his beginning to put money in the bank? But there is scarcely any end to the advantages of such an establishment to those who choose to avail themselves of it; for unmarried women especially it is particularly desirable; they may there place their savings in safety, without trouble or expense; it 'gives them the best opportunity of making themselves comfortable if they marry, and independent if they do not.

"As yet savings banks have not been established long enough to prove more than a very few of the good effects that may be expected from them. They are calculated, however, to serve the country in the best of all possible ways, by enabling every man to serve himself; they hold out encouragement to youth, comfort to middle life, and independence

to old age, and a perpetual opportunity to men to improve their condition from generation to generation."

CASE OF DISTRESS.

It is

I am in a state of great perplexity at this moment. half past four in the morning, and by twelve o'clock I want six pages in order to complete this number. All yesterday I was racking my brain upon various topics, but with no sort of success. I might as well have rummaged for gold in an empty chest. I could not find an idea on any subject. At eleven I went to bed in the hope of rising in a more fertile humour. I was up at three, but found no change. I suppose the weather has something to do with producing this collapse of the imagination; that is, the weather combined with a want of my customary quantity of exercise and a sufficient attention to diet. It is a losing game to persist, when the humour is directly contrary; and, probably, if I had taken a vigorous ride yesterday, my inaptitude would have vanished, and I should have saved time. These difficulties might easily be avoided, and I am quite determined I will avoid them for the future, by increased and regular attention to my state of man; though it is almost worth while to feel their weight, on account of the delightful sensation of lightness which follows their removal. I must eschew formal dinners as much as possible, and live according to the dictates of reason; indeed, I think I have done penance almost long enough. I mean, amongst other things, to attend particularly to sleep, upon the quantity and quality of which, I find, vigour and elasticity of body and mind very much depend. There is a great art in sleeping; though it is much neglected, because everybody can sleep after a fashion without any art at all. I will make it the subject of a special article, as soon as I have

made my observations practically. Time creeps on, and I find myself at a complete stand still; so with many apologies for my helpless state, and promises to prevent a recurrence, I have recourse once more to my pamphlet on Pauperism, and make a sufficient quantity of extracts to fill up my remaining space. The last extract, on the cost of labour, I thought had been inserted before, and I searched for it for the purpose of referring to it in the article in my last number on Impressment. It will serve to make a part of what I have said there better understood by those who take the trouble to compare the two.

PAUPERISM.

Pauperism, in the legal sense of the word, is a state of dependence upon parochial provision. That provision, so far as it is necessary to supply the demand for labour, is a tax upon wages; beyond that amount it is a tax upon property, and operates as a bounty to improvidence. Where labourers, with an ordinary degree of prudence, cannot maintain themselves and their families without parish relief, such relief is part of their own wages, kept back to be doled out to them as emergency requires. The feigning, or unnecessarily bringing on such emergency, demands an increase of the provision, which increase falls on the property assessed to the rates. Of the large sum annually raised for the purposes of pauperism, that part only is a tax upon property, which is absorbed by the bounty to improvidence and by the expenses of the system; the remainder is merely a tax upon wages, and has this double injustice in it-it is not refunded by the rate-payer in the proportions in which it is retained by him, nor distributed to the labourers in the proportions in which it is deducted from their wages. It is retained in the proportion of employment of labour, it is refunded in that of property as

sessed. It is deducted from the best labourers in a larger proportion than from the worst-it is distributed to the worst in a larger proportion than to the best. He who employs many hands on a small rateable property retains much of what he ought to pay in wages, and pays back little in poor's rates. But with him who employs few hands on a large rateable property it is exactly the reverse; he retains little from wages, and pays much in rates. The injustice with regard to the labourers may be shown thus: in any place where wages are not sufficient to keep up the supply of labour, it is necessary either to raise them till they are so, or to make up the difference from the parish. Suppose the wages to be 10s. a week, and that it would require 12s. to keep up the supply of labour. If wages are raised, the best labourers will receive the most benefit; but if the difference is made up by the parish, the best labourers will pay, and the worst will receive the greatest part of the tax. Those who work their whole time will pay 28. a week, or 57. 4s. per annum, of which they may possibly receive little or nothing in return; and according to this scale, a healthy, industrious labourer may lose in the course of his life above 2007. To put the case in another way if the price of the aggregate of labour in a parish be 1,000l. per annum, whereof 8007. are paid in wages, and 2007., which is one-fifth, or twenty per cent. on the whole, are paid as rates, the labourer who ought to have received 10s. a week will only receive 8s. It may be said, these instances only prove that the effect of the Poor Laws is to establish a benefit society in every parish. But in benefit societies the tax is voluntary and equal, or fairly proportioned, and is managed by the contributors themselves; and with all their precautions there is this acknowledged objection, that the worst members generally receive the most advantage. But where wages are taxed by the parish, the tax is neither voluntary nor equal, but most unfairly proportioned; nor have the contributors any control over the distribution, but are made to apply