Improvements in Ear*henwarey Candles^ and Cloth. 



1816.] 



has been confined four years ; lie is very 



poot , and eanuot get relief. 



William and Elizabeth Dawson, 

 of Yoiksliiic, have lieen eonfined seven 

 years; are very poor, and cannot get 

 relief. 



Ann Brottnor, of Sheffield, York- 

 shire, has been confined in years; is 

 very poor, and obliged to remain un- 

 noticed; and to exist on 'Ss, 6d. per 

 week. 



Thomas Davis, of Lampitcr, in 

 Wales, has been eonfined seventeen 

 months ; his debt was only 50?. but, by 

 the ingemdtij of the lawyers, having 

 raised his costs to 7287. he must remain 

 without hope. 



These unfortunate persons, and nearly 

 thirty others, have been confined from 

 one month to one, two, three, four, se- 

 ven years, and upwards; and nuist re- 

 main forever locked up within the Avails 

 of the Fleet Prison ; shut out from the 

 common air, and use of their own limbs, 

 from the world, and the society of their 

 friends ; to eat the bread of grief, drink 

 the bitter cup of misery, and, finally, 

 sink neglected and unpitied into llic 

 grave; unless the legislature shall re- 

 lieve them — since the Lord Chan- 

 cellor has declared that he cannot aflbrd 

 relief, or act otherwise ; as the laws, as 

 tiiey now stand, must be obeyed, 



*;,:* This unvarnished tale of vnpa/-al- 

 Iclcd suffering calls on the liberal contri- 

 httions of the humane, till the legislature 

 has/bund a remedy for an evil which is 

 httle creditable to the laws or their admi- 

 nistrators; and, as the mere agent of be- 

 nevolence, the Editor of this Magazine 

 offers his services, for the present, to re- 

 ceive and apphj any sum which may be 

 cottfided to his care, for the relief or com- 

 fort of these vjretched objects. Contempts 

 of court ought to be ascertained by a 

 Jury, and atoned for by some definite pe- 

 nalty, like any other crimes ; and offended 

 courts of law ought not to be the only 

 powers who are strangers to the Christian 

 tirtiie of forgiveness, or whose vengeance 

 cannot be appeased by long suffering. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SUi, 



IT is with the greatest deference I 

 presume to trouble you with tlic fol- 

 lowing remarks. 



While reading the reflections of Com- 

 mon Sense, in your number for June, 

 on the present mode of ornamenting our 

 •artlieuwarc, it occurred to me that a. 

 4 



13 



fine opportunity was aflbrded for disse- 

 minating useful and important truths. 



If, instead of the silly castles in the 

 air w hich principally cover the earthen- 

 ware in present u e, tiiere were a wise 

 sayii.g, oran immutable truth, on every 

 plate and tea-cup and saucer; what a 

 fund of sententious wisdom might be in- 

 troduced into every lauiiiy, particularly 

 the middle and lower classes of society. 

 What admirable topics lor conversation 

 would thus be introduced, and what 

 useful and early associations would b» 

 formed ! 



It seems to me, that this system of 

 communicating moral instruction would 

 be much superior to tliut of com- 

 uninicating it through tiic medium of 

 tracts. 



I am aware how easy it is to be preju- 

 diced in favour of our own plans, and to 

 make enoiicous calculations of their 

 utility ; but still the good which might 

 be done in a few years, by adopting tiiis 

 system, appears to me incalculable. 



Nottingham ; T. H. S. 



June 20, 1816. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magasine. 



SIR, 



AMONG the common inventions of 

 lii'e, there are none which concern 

 our comfort more than candles; 1 wish 

 some chandler of genius may arise ia 

 this generation who will invent self-con- 

 suming wicks, Avliich Mill perish at an 

 e(}ual rate with the candle, and prevent 

 the jdague of snufiing. The invention 

 would be by no means diificult, and the 

 advantage prodigious ; at present, every 

 ten minutes the consumer of tallow can- 

 dles is in absolute darkness; or is forced, 

 just as he is finding a rhyme for his poe- 

 try, or concluding a period in a sermon, 

 to jump up for the snuflers, which are 

 never where they ought to be, and al- 

 ways scatter their sable grease on the 

 table. And, now we are inventing, let 

 me recommend to the attention of socie- 

 ties who encourage the useful arts, not 

 only the self-consuming wick, but the 

 self -preserving cloth — the addition of 

 something inodorous in the woollen dye, 

 which will render the cloth distasteful 

 to moths, and not unpleasant to the 

 wearer. Your grave readers may 

 laugh at these humble hints ; but 

 great coats and eyes have their advaji- 

 tagcs ; and whatever tends to preserve 

 tlicui in not entirely to be despised. 



