3^0 Review ^f Br Gardiner V EJJayfl Aug, 



prodigality, and vice, is falutary. To correal the lazy and the fpend- 

 thrift, to (hnt them up in houfes of confinement, till they have ac- 

 quired habits of induftry, is jaft and. prudent ; but in fuch eftablifli- 

 ments, to feed, to clothe, and to lodge them better than the fober and 

 diligent are clothed, fed, and lodged, is not agreeable to any principle 

 of equity, and is inconfiitent with found policy. On account, there- 

 fore, of the bad effcdls to the pubhc, of an exccfs of benevolence, it 

 ought to be a general rule, as formerly fuggeited, that every out-pen- 

 fion to a pauper, or his maintenance in a work-houfe, ought to be 

 fomethiny below what the nieanell workman can earn by - his labour. * 

 Vol. J. p. c 2 2-5 26. 



We agree with Dr Gardiner, that it is impraftscable to prevent 

 common bcijging ; therefore think thofe who are permitted to beg 

 (hould be under f)n-,e fuch regulations as he recommends. The ac- 

 contit which he gives of the Royal Society of Mendicants (Blue-gowns) 

 in Scotland, is curious and interefling. 



The {e<f^ion >'oncerning the utility of foundling hofpital?, contains 

 many uftful rrrpirks ; but being rather unconnected with rural matters, 

 we fhall reRriift on-^ftlves to a iingle obfervation upon it. Foundling 

 hospitals, in one point of view, are beneficial to fociety, by affording 

 a receptacle vvhertin deftitute infants may be reared up and trained to 

 uft^fui purpofes ; but, at the fame time, as they alfo afford encourage- 

 ment to immoralii}', and are feldom managed in a way that proves 

 conducive to the purpofes for which they are ellablifhcd, we are not 

 fnre but that the benefits thereby gained are much more than counter- 

 balanced by the accompanying evils. 



The lafi fedion is on the population of Britain at different periods. 

 Dr Gar-Jiner thinks that, at the iavafion of Julius Caefar, the number 

 of inhabitants did not exceed 850,000 of all ages ; which number aug- 

 mented during the CTOvej-nment of the Romans to nearly three millions. 

 At the death of i\lfred in 900, he eftimates that population, from va- 

 rious caufes, had dcclired one third ; and that even at the Conqueft 

 the number was not much augmented. During the reign of the Tu- 

 dor?, when Itfs foreign war and fewer internal difienfions prevailed than 

 in former periods, and when much attention was paid to agriculture 

 and manufactures, he com.putes the population to have more than 

 doubled From the return of the Bifhops in 1676, it wa'? then reck- 

 oned at fix millions in England. The authentic returns lately made 

 under the authority of the I^'giflature, however, prove, in the moil 

 fatisfaftoiy manner, that the number of inhabitants in Britain had ra- 

 pidly increafed during the eighteenth centnry. Indeed any perfon, who 

 merely looked an inch before his nofe, might have been fati.fied of the 

 truth of this circumiianct without an aftual enumeration. Agricul- 

 t'.nc was txccuted in a much nicr.' perfed flyle than formerly ; manil- 

 fidure? had increafed in an aiionifhing degree ; canals, roads, and oth/fr 

 internal improvements were making in every quarter ; and how could 

 thtfe things have happened, unlefs population had increafed ? It was 

 impoflible j and fuch a train of argument we always purfued befoi^e 



the 



