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ART. VIII. The First Report of the Society established in London for the Suppression of Mendicity. 8vo. IS. Whitely, and all Booksellers. 1819.

THE

The Second Report of the Society, &c. 8vo. 1820.

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HE immense sums yearly raised by parochial rates for the relief of the poor, together with the magnificent establishments which every quarter of the metropolis, and indeed every part of the kingdom, derive from the foundation and support of private benevolence, would seem in theory to justify the exclusion of the word "beggar" from our vocabulary: but, practically, the case is far different; and, from the crowd of mendicants who daily importune us, it would rather appear that no provision existed for those who are depressed by want or affliction. This lamentable evil may be traced to many sources: the inadequacy of the poorlaws themselves, the inefficiency of some of the ministerial officers, the apathy of others, the impossibility of providing adequate or long-continued relief, and the difficulty of finding work. All these refer principally to the parishpoor; and with regard to private institutions, very many cases must exist which have not been contemplated by any founders: many proper objects must also be ignorant of the existence of an establishment on which they have a claim; and others must want interest to procure admission. We must add also the over-stocked state of some foundations, and especially the disgraceful neglect into which others have fallen; where trustees have "contaminated their fingers" by appropriating to themselves the funds intended for the indigent. All these causes would, particularly in times of such commercial distress as we have lately experienced, account for a large portion of the numbers whom we daily see endeavouring to obtain a temporary relief by begging: but we fear that the majority of those who annoy us by their importunate appeals consist of the idle and the vicious, who impose on the charitable by every species of deception, and who pursue the trade of begging as regularly as any artisan follows his honest calling. So numerous are these impositions, and so notorious are the facts by which they are proved, that mendicity and mendacity have almost become synonymous terms, and a deserving object is frequently refused assistance by those who fear to become the dupes of fraud. This denial, indeed, can scarcely excite wonder, when it is well known that these vagabonds obtain not only an easy subsistence, but that the bounty which they thus extort enables them to live in comparative luxury, and is almost invariably spent in drunken

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420 First and Second Report of the Society against Mendicity.

ness and debauchery. The scenes which were laid open by the Committee of the House of Commons on this subject, in the year 1817, have dispelled the notion, which long existed, that these were visionary assertions, and have too clearly evinced that they are plain and incontrovertible facts.

With a full knowlege of all these circumstances, and with the view of preventing that indiscriminate alms-giving, by which these fraudulent practices were rewarded, the " Society for the Suppression of Mendicity" was instituted in the year 1818, when the sudden and alarming increase of vagrants in the metropolis had made a very powerful impression on the public mind. The members of it have adopted, in a great measure, the plan suggested by Mr. Martin in a pamphlet which we noticed many years ago. (Vol. xlii. N.S. p. 108. Sept. 1803.) They recommend that no money whatever shall be given to a street-beggar, but that he shall be presented with a ticket, with which subscribers and purchasers are provided, to be taken by him to the Society's Office, in Red Lion Square. On his arrival there, he is examined by a variety of interrogatories, as to his parish, his usual occupation, the cause of his distress, his prospect of support, the relief which he has already received, and such other questions as the case may suggest. All his answers are regularly entered, and the whole are registered for inspection, with a statement of the assistance which is afforded to him; and which of course varies according to the emergency of the case. In every instance, food-tickets are given, intitling the pauper to a meal of nutritious soup, and to a large portion of bread; so that, if he be not considered deserving of any other aid, his loss of time at least is plentifully repaid, by bestowing on him and all his family a day's nourishment. That this bounty may not be misapplied, the whole must be eaten on the premises; and, if the applicant be without lodging, a sufficient sum is given to him to procure a bed for the night.

A note is also transmitted by the pauper to the overseers of the parish on which he has a claim; and he is supplied with a return-ticket, to introduce him again to the office for farther aid or instructions. If parish-relief be refused, a clerk is sent with the pauper to a magistrate, for the purpose of procuring a summons to the overseers to answer his complaint. In the mean time, inquiry is made into the character of the applicant; and, if the result be satisfactory, steps are taken by the sitting manager to prevent the necessity of a recurrence to street-begging.

The Society likewise employs constables to apprehend sturdy beggars and impostors, who are then prosecuted by its offi

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First and Second Report of the Society against Mendicity. 421

cers. Every method is taken to prevent imposition, and to obtain an account of the result of every case; and to that end, when beggars are passed to their parishes or assisted by the Society to reach home, letters are regularly sent to the ministers or officers of the parish, requesting information whether the party arrives.

We have been induced to occupy a larger space than we ordinarily devote to the description of charitable institutions, by an honest conviction of the real utility of this Society, by the sincere gratification which we feel in seeing a number of noblemen and gentlemen employ themselves personally in the laborious duties of inquiry and examination, and by the palpable benefit which has resulted from their exertions in the diminution of mendicants that is already evident. Too many obstacles, both temporary and permanent, stand in the way of a complete and effectual suppression of mendicity, to warrant us in expecting it: but, though the grievance may not be totally eradicated, it may be materially decreased; and, in order to assist in promoting this improvement, we would earnestly inculcate on our readers the impropriety of "indiscriminate alms-giving," and the consideration that the real purposes of charity will be more truly answered by taking a little trouble than by giving a few pence.

It should not be omitted, also, that the Society does not refuse relief to those who apply with tickets, although they were not found in the act of begging. This is wise and just, since a contrary practice would be in fact holding out a premium to habitual mendicants. Neither should we forget to mention that the Society is about to open a new office, for the very useful purpose of instituting inquiries into the truth of those pitiful tales which are so frequently related in letters addressed to private individuals; a mode of imposition by which, we doubt not, several of our readers have more than once been sufferers.

We copy the following short passage from the first Report:

If it be now too late to retrace our steps, let us not incur the additional reproach, of refusing to profit by past errors - let the appalling facts which recent inquiries into the management of the Poor have elicited, teach us sedulously to avoid the dangerous principle of affording assistance indiscriminately to the infirm and the able-bodied, the industrious and the idle, the deserving and the vicious; let us at least in the exercise of individual benevolence adopt a better course; let investigation always precede relief; the circumstances of every case be minutely examined the character and habits of the party fully inquired into, and relief will then, if deserved, be given in the way most likely to be really E e 3

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serviceable to the object, and most satisfactory to the feelings of the donor.

If this, however, be a duty which many have not the leisure to perform, we intreat them to distribute the Society's tickets; neither on the one hand allowing the applications of beggars to be altogether disregarded, or on the other endeavouring to rid themselves of clamorous importunity, by contributing to perpetuate a practice pregnant with every moral and political evil.'

A number of cases, selected from the Society's books, will shew the efficacy of the interference of its members, in relieving real distress, in detecting fictitious claims, and in punishing incorrigible vagrants. These cases are both interesting and satisfactory, and we recommend the Reports at large to general perusal : from which, we doubt not, an accession of strength to the Society will follow.

ART. IX. The Fall of Jerusalem, a Dramatic Poem. By the Rev. H. H. Milman. New Edition. 8vo. 8s. 6d. Boards.

IT

Murray. 1820.

is with sincere pleasure that we sit down to review the present work of Mr. Milman. Nothing, indeed, can be more gratifying to critics, who have been compelled to censure flagrant offences against taste committed by a writer of acknowleged genius, than to witness the same writer emancipated, in a great measure, from his former follies; and shining forth, if not altogether with unclouded light, yet with manifest increase of glory and of power. That class of composition, of which we are here presented with a distinguished specimen, certainly requires very unusual qualifications. Destitute of the artful arrangement and condensed interest of the regular drama, it is at the same time deprived of the ample developement of characters, and connected series of events, which adorn the epic. A proportionate degree of energy, both in thought and in expression, is obviously requisite to preserve the dramatic poem from an entire failure in affording entertainment. Of this energy, especially vigour of conception, we have always felt that Mr. Milman possessed a sufficient share: but in his earlier works, according to our judgment, he was thrown on that fatal rock of taste which has occasioned so much affectation, and so unnatural a manner, in several of our most promising poets. The prevailing fault to which we allude was the studied adoption of the style, of the frame of sentences, and of the turn of expression, which mark the writers who founded our national drama in the æras of Elizabeth and James. Such a bias prevails, indeed, in the present

present day, (yes, even in the year 1820,) towards the revival of this antiquated phraseology, and (to us) unnatural mode of speech, that even the laboured imitation of the harshest figures of our old dramatists is no bar to the admiration of our contemporaries. Sadly did Mr. Milman sacrifice to this modern-antique mania in his ingenious and spirited play of Fazio: the same imitation pervaded many parts of the heroic Samor, although with much improvement in freedom of manner: - but now we are able to hail a performance of this very rising poet, which exhibits a rare combination of attractions. The "worser part" of his dramatic imitations is here entirely cast aside; comparatively few examples of this vicious taste remain; and a poem is presented to us which may take its deserved station on the same shelf with the Samson Agonistes, and, although to our minds of plainly inferior degree in poetical correctness as a whole, may contest, in a large portion of it, the post of honour with the Caractacus and Elfrida.

Having said thus much, with our known opinions as to the comparative merit of the writers of the early and the latter part of the nineteenth century, it can scarcely be necessary for us to add that we consider the The Fall of Jerusalem' as one of the first compositions of our times.

The groundwork of the poem is to be found in Josephus, but the events of a considerable time are compressed into a period of about thirty-six hours. Though their children are fictitious characters, the leaders of the Jews, Simon, John, and Eleazar, are historical. At the beginning of the siege the defenders of the city were divided into three factions. John, however, having surprised Eleazar, who occupied the Temple, during a festival, the party of Eleazar became subordinate to that of John. The character of John the Galilean was that of excessive sensuality, I have therefore considered him as belonging to the sect of the Sadducees; Simon, on the other hand, I have represented as a native of Jerusalem, and a strict Pharisee; although his soldiers were chiefly Edomites. The Christians, we learn from Eusebius, abandoned the city previous to the siege (by divine command, according to that author), and took refuge in Pella, a small town on the further side of the Jordan. The constant tradition of the Church has been, that no one professing that faith perished during all the havoc which attended on this most awful visitation.

It has been my object also to show the full completion of prophecy in this great event; nor do I conceive that the public mind (should this poem merit attention) can be directed to so striking and so incontestable an evidence of the Christian faith without advantage. Those whom duty might not induce to compare the long narrative of Josephus with the Scriptural prediction of the

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