1830.] Affairs in General 339 



vestry of St. Bartholomew the Great, and the reformers of that parish, 

 who had obtained an order, calling upon them to pass their accounts. 

 The following were among the items : 



For an Easter dinner -- - -700 



And for another - - - - v>- 14 

 For beautifying the beadle's staff - - 670 

 For a visit to a Mr. Sewell - - - 110 

 And to the poor at Sewell's farm - - 040 

 Mr. Prendergast attended for the excluded, and spoke with great indig- 

 nation against the accounts ; but he was met by the Select with an 

 assertion, that his own father, when he was churchwarden of the parish, 

 had signed the accounts of the very expenditure which he complained of, 

 and had even signed a bill allowing 6s. a-piece for four fowls." 



Of the argumentum ad hominem which seems to have overthrown the 

 patriotism of Mr. Prendergast, we can say nothing, but that either the 

 fowls were fat, or that the poulterer, to whom their eaters paid six shil- 

 lings a-piece for them, must have been a prodigious favourite with the 

 select vestry. We have, too, the pleasant contrast of twenty-one pounds 

 for two dinners of those righteous superintendents of the parish, and 

 four shillings for a visit to the poor meaning, we suppose, for the cha- 

 rity distributed among them. Why are those things done ? For the 

 obvious reason, that the parties who are to have the profit have the 

 expenditure. 



In those vestries, the tradesmen of the parish always either outnumber, 

 or out weary the gentlemen. If a contract for beef is proposed for the 

 workhouse, the butcher brings his voters, and they at once settle the 

 rate of the contract, and give the bargain to their leader. This is not 

 the clearest way in the world to get the beef cheap ; but it is by no 

 means the worst to put money into the pocket of the parish carnifex. 

 ' If some acute eye discover that the pulpit wants a new velvet and 

 gold waistcoat, the chief tailor comes down with a tailor-levy en masse, 

 settles that never was there a pulpit in so scandalous a state of nudity, and 

 rewards himself for his parochial zeal by a couple of hundred pounds 

 for work of the value of fifty. The carpenter has his ligneous detections 

 too, and his tribe of the adze and hammer to beat conviction into the 

 brains of his compatriot menders and makers ; who, indeed, being fully 

 aware that one good turn deserves another, would deem it the most 

 indelicate thing possible to interfere with the profits of their worthy 

 brother Bladebone, or their excellent fellow-parishioner, Mr. Chip. 



" So runs the parish world away ; 

 And rogues combine, that fools may pay." 



One of the phenomena of the late elections is, that the rich have 

 gone out and the poor have got in. This is a fine promise of the scenes 

 that the years 1831, and the following will produce. Brougham for 

 Yorkshire here is an omen for the radicals ! Brougham for the first 

 county in England, the representative of a million of farmers and 

 blacksmiths aye, and the sole representative, for little Lord Morpeth 

 is only fit to " amble in a lady's chamber," and spout speeches out of 

 " Cato." We should not be surprised if, now that he is convinced that 

 Leech will not die, nor Peel relinquish his salary while he can keep it ; 

 Brougham should at last suffer one manly thought to come into his 

 heart or head, and attempt to play prime minister-himself. Why not ? 



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