ay ANNUAL REGISTER, 1797. 
ihe repinings which  cafual ‘and 
temporary calamities have excited; 
and fhould convince us, that na- 
tional diftrefs exifts only in the mif- 
conceptions of the ignorant, or the 
cavils of the difcontented. If, on 
the contrary, the picture fhould be 
a gloomy one, the difplay of a de- 
clining and unprofperons ftate of 
fociety will not be without its ufe. 
To point owt an evil, is frequent- 
ly, not only in morals but in poli-: 
tics, the fhorteft road to amend- 
ment. Even where the calamity 
is infurmountable, a knowledge of 
the caufes which render it fo, are 
confoling; fince it may teach us to 
bear patiently what we cannot 
_eure, and to difcriminate perfeGly 
between the errors of eftablith- 
ment and the imperfections of 
human nature.” 
The firft volume is divided into 
two books; one of which treats of 
the foot from the Conqueft to the 
prefent peried; and the other of 
national eftablifhments for the 
maintenance of the poor; of the 
Fnglith poor fyftem; propofed 
amendments; of the diet, drefs, 
fuel, and habitation of the labour- 
ing clafles in Great Britain; and of 
friendly focieties. af 
After fome general remarks on 
the importance of that clafs whofe 
condition it is his objecét to invefti- 
gate, Sir Frederic Eden enters on 
an enquiry into the domedtic eco- 
nomy of the great mafs of the ped- 
ple at the early periods of Englifh 
hiftory. He minutely traces their 
condition under the different gra- 
dations of fituation they have un- 
dergone, from their wretched fer- 
vitude and oppreffion under the 
feudal fyftem, to their prefent ftate 
of amelioration and comparative 
Aappinefs. 
Having delineated the origin and 
progrefs of the poor laws, and 
pointed out the various medifica- 
tions of them which have, from 
time to time, been recommended 
to the attention of the legiflature, 
and noticed fach circumftances re- 
corded by our hiftorians, as more 
peculiarly refer to the condition 
and circumftances of the labouring 
claffes of the community, he con- 
eludes his firft book with the fol- 
lowing obfervations : 
“* Whether the indigent claffes 
at this day are more numerous than) 
they were at the Revolution, 1 can- 
not take upon me, peremptorily, to 
decide: but viewing the compara-~ 
tive facility with whieh the exi- 
gencies of the ftate have in modern 
times been provided for, and con- 
necting the eafe of the labourer 
with the increafed demand for la- 
bour, I feel no difficulty in per- 
fuading myfelf that the beneficial 
eifects of national opulence have 
been diffufed through every order 
of the fate. Grateful, indeed, I 
am for the bleflings which were 
conferred on this country by the 
Revolution; and fully fenfible that 
we owe to the force of character 
and energetic refalution, which dif- 
tinguifhed our forefathers at that 
interefting period, the commence- 
ment of a new era, in which the 
bounds of prerogative and liberty 
have been better defined, the prin- 
ciples of government more tho- 
oughly examined and underftood, 
and the rights of the fubjeét more 
explicitly guarded by legal provi- 
fions, than in any other period of 
Englith hiftory ; but 1 much doubt 
whether the abilities of the “¢ maf> 
ter-workman” (as Mr. Burke calls 
King William) or of thofe who 
ftrenuoufly co-operated with him 
in refcuing the nation from de{- 
petifm, raifed that clofs, whofe ma- 
nual 
