340 
cient silver to pay for it, adding that 
as I was a stranger he took the liberty 
of asking me that question, as he could 
not give me change for a pound note. 
It happened that F had no silver, and 
L.therefore found I cuuld have no soup. 
i have frequently, when I have wanted 
io purchase any thing, and have not 
had sufficient silver, been obliged to go 
from shop to shop to no purpose, the 
tradesmen not having change to give: 
and I dare say many, if not most, of 
your readers have experienced the same 
difficulty. But this, though certainly 
a great inconvenience to the purchaser, 
and (when frequently occurring) # con- 
siderable Joss to the tradesman, ‘is small 
and trifling, compared. with the evils 
which are likely to be felt when the 
silver coin of the country shall ¢otally 
disappear; an event which must ere 
long take place, if the quantity of it 
should continue to: decrease as rapidly 
as it has done of late. When that 
time arrives, what will be the situation 
of a working man, who, after having 
toiled all the weck, receives on the Sa- 
turday night his wages in a one or two 
pound note? He goes to the butcher 
to purchase meat for the family; buys, 
perhaps, four or five shillings worth, 
and tenders his note in payment; but 
the butcher cannot give him change, 
and he cannot have the meat. He then 
goes to the baker: there the same thing 
occurs: having no change, he can have 
no bread. At the public house, he 
meets with the same inconvenience 
from the same cause. What is he to 
do? He has toiled hard all the week, 
and though he sees in the shambles, the 
baker’s shop, and the public house, 
abundance of meat, bread, and beer, 
vet he and his family must. starve! 
Then will the true value of a bank note 
be known! Then will the folly and 
madness of those measures, by which 
cur country has been drained. of its 
gold and ‘silver coin, be apparent! 
Phen will the results of our intermina- 
ble wars, our subsidizing system, and 
consequent transmutation’ of our gold 
and silver into paper, be obvious! 
Taking the proportion of the working 
classes, in relation to the rest of the 
community, as ten is to fifteen, (and it 
must undoubtedly be much greater) and 
the population of the country at fifteen 
millions, there will then be ten millions 
of people in this kingdom absolutely 
starving in the midst of plenty, though 
in the possession of money, if it would 
Sketch of a Picturesque Tour in England. 
tr May I, 
pass, amply sufficient to supply their 
wants! But can it be expected that 
they will tamely submit to starvation 
under such circumstances? God forbid 
that the occurrence of the event should 
ever put their submission to the test :— 
if it should, the horrors of arevolution 
must inevitably attend upon it. 
Such, then, are the evils which this 
germ of anarchy and national ruin 
seems likely to produce; its branches 
already ramify through every town, 
and into every shop in the kingdom ; 
and, unless its further growth be speedily 
and effectually stopped, it will soon be- 
come so deeply rooted as to be incapa- 
ble of eradication, even by the most 
skilful hand. How important then: to 
the state is the application of a sufli- 
cient remedy to this growing evil! And 
how.much worthier is it of the serious 
and immediate atention of parliament, 
than the inclosure of a common, the 
making a road, or the recriminations 
of two. parties who are incessantly 
contending for places, pensions, and 
ower, H. 
April 7th 1811. 
tae 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
S the season of travelling is now ad- 
vancing, and our countrymen are 
still prevented by the state of hostilities 
from extending their excursions to the 
Continent, every means should surely be 
adopted for facilitating their observations 
at home. : 
A Chart Gastronomique has_ lately 
appeared in France, exhibiting to the 
traveller, a statement of the delicacies 
of the table, which may be had:in perfec- 
tion, in the several towns and villages of 
that country. “lite 
As John Bull will be perfectly well 
contented, if he can procure a good: beef 
steak any where, I do not-address you 
with the view of proposing an imitation 
of this map for gourmands. ‘But since 
picturesque scenery, and the fine arts, 
constitute the chief objects of notice 
with the great majority of your readers, 
lam anxious to see some Itineraries made 
out, chiefly professing the furtherance of 
these two objects. It has been my mis- 
fortune, and I doubt not that many of 
your readers, to find that after accom- 
plishing a tour, some important view or 
gallery of paintings, has been passed, 
though lying within a mile of the road, 
unvisited through want of previous infor- 
mation. Should it prove agreeable to 
2 your 
