POP 



91 



POP 



ttih 

 Kng- 

 modes 



roxi- 



tirg. 



red 



way of dis- 

 tributing. 



ortant 

 : on 

 clergy. 



Female 

 nupport in 

 works of 

 charity. 



The slow but steady progress of assessment on this 

 > plan, if accompanied l>y relict' from the nuisance of 

 common begging, would in fact be advantageous to the 

 community ; ( 1 a ' 8 to tm ' 'n'crt-,ts ul'tlic poor, and 

 to the labouring classes of Scotland, as well as to land- 

 holders. 



It has been found that sheriffs have no right to in- 

 terfere with kirk sessions and heritors in making up 

 their lists of poor ; and also that children able to assist 

 in supporting their indigent parents, are bound in law 

 to do so. These decisions are of great importance in 

 ascertaining the true nnd good principles of Scottish 

 law, founded in the spirit of charity and of duty. It 

 cannot now be considered as either hard or imprudent 

 for ministers to employ their legitimate authority in 

 behalf of the poor ; it is their duty to do so, and they 

 are answerable to God and their country for the dis- 

 charge of it. No prudent or liberal heritor will or can 

 refuse his proportion ; for if not voluntarily granted, 

 it can easily be enforced, and on such principles as can 

 be hurtful to no one. 



In the mean time, while a better system of adminis- 

 tering to the wants of the poor is in progress, and the 

 practice of Scotland and England are approximating 

 towards each other, with the principles of law and 

 practice in both kingdoms ; it must be of great im- 

 portance, while residence is thus enforced, to see that 

 the poor are not destitute of employment. In former 

 times, the manufacture of wool occupied many of the 

 females during the dead season, as it has been called ; 

 and if this be now carried away into England, it might 

 be so far recovered by the use of persons trained cor- 

 rectly to assort the Scottish fleece ; after which it can 

 be worked up to advantage. 



Many of those who administer to the wants of the 

 poor, do so always, or for the most part, by distributing 

 money alone. It would often be far better to give less 

 money, and other necessaries, as oatmeal, or coal, or 

 perhaps cloth, or wool, or flax; or implements of in- 

 dustry, such as wheels, heckles, or combs. The Board 

 of Trustees at Edinburgh now give aid in erecting 

 carding mills for wool, and in bestowing heckles for 

 the working of flax ; and it must be a very particular 

 situation indeed, where the minister, elders, and heri- 

 tors, cannot materially contribute to the maintenance of 

 the poor, by stimulating, assisting, and rewarding their 

 industry. With a permanent burden of only about 

 one regular pauper in the hundred of her population, 

 Scotland may surely find useful employment for the 

 other two incidental claimants on her kindness and 

 bounty, and may grant what is necessary in supple- 

 ment without a grudge. The law has now clearly 

 said, that no annoyance shall be given in any inferior 

 courts to ministers, elders, and heritors, in making up 

 lists, and finding provision for the poor ; and that no 

 appeal from them shall be competent, except to the Su- 

 preme Civil Court of Scotland. The voice of duty, 

 therefore, calls upon them, in connection with the dic- 

 tates of humanity, of justice, and of good policy, not 

 to neglect nor desert what is thus committed to them 

 as a high trust, and which the principles of Christian 

 charity render sacred. 



Females of high rank and accomplishments now ap- 

 pear at the head of many beneficent plans for the in- 

 struction of children, and the support of the poor, in 

 various parts of Scotland. The co-operation of these 

 will not be wanting to the minister and elders, if pro- 

 perly asked ; and it will tend at once to sweeten their 

 labours of charity, and to ensure their success. K. K. 



I 



POPA VAN, one of the province* of the viceroyahy 

 of New Grenada, in Sou'h America, bounded on the 

 north by the Llanos de Neiva, on the east by Quixos, 

 on the south by Alacamo, and on the west by Choco Alex * n6 T - 

 and the Pacific Ocean. It is about 128 leagues long, 

 and 100 wide. The central and the highest branch of 

 the three parallel chains of the Andes run through the 

 province. The soil produces grains and fruits in abund- 

 ance ; and numbers of hornet! cattle, hares, and sheep, 

 are reared by the farmers. Cattle and mules are ex- 

 ported to Quito, and clothes, &c. are received in return. 

 Dried beef, salted pork, tobacco, lard, raw cotton, &c. 

 are sent to Choco and other places in exchange for the 

 precious metals ; and sugar and snuff are imported 

 from Santa Fe. The exchange of silver for gold is 

 also a great branch of traffic, the former being scarce, 

 and the latter plentiful. The character of the cli- 

 mate is that of a continual spring, and there is no 

 other distinction between summer and winter than 

 that the rains are less abundant in June, July, and 

 August. 



POPAYAN, the capital of the above province, is si- 

 tuated on a large plain, 5.Q05 feet above the sea, and 

 on the east side of a mountain of moderate height, 

 called M, from its likeness to that letter. There is a 

 convent of barefooted Carmelites on a spacious plain 

 near the top of this mountain, from which issues a river 

 that runs through the city. The river is called Del 

 Molina, and is crossed by a stone and a wooden bridge. 

 The town is built in a square form, and the streets are 

 broad, straight, and level. Many of the houses, which 

 are built of unburnt bricks, are handsome. The Do- 

 minicans, Franciscans, and Augustines, have all church- 

 es. The cathedral was endowed in 15*7. At the 

 royal mint, established here, a million of dollars are 

 coined annually. Population about 25,000, according 

 to Ulloa, though others call it only 8000. West Long. 

 76 39' 54", and North Lat. 2 26' 18". 



POPE, ALEXANDER, a celebrated British poet, 

 was born at London on the 8th June, 1688. A short 

 time after the Revolution, his father, who was a Ro- 

 man Catholic, and attached to the exiled family, left 

 the profession of a hatter, which he carried on in the 

 Strand, and retired to Binfield, in Windsor Forest, 

 where he had purchased a small house and a few acres 

 of land, and where he lived frugally on a capital of 

 20,000, which he had acquired in business. Under 

 his father's roof, and with the assistance of an aunt, he 

 acquired the elements of learning, and he learned the 

 art of writing by copying printed books. About 1696 

 he was placed under the care of one Taverner, a Romish 

 priest, in Hampshire, for the purpose of acquiring a 

 knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages. Soon 

 after this he was sent to a Roman Catholic seminary at 

 Winchester, and next to a school at Hyde Park Corner. 

 He displayed an early talent for writing verses ; and 

 having met with Ogilvy's Translation of Homer, and 

 Sandys's Translation of the Metamorphotes of Ovid, he 

 studied them with ardour, and ever afterwards exhibit- 

 ed the most decided passion for poetry. When at the 

 school at Hyde Park, he had occasional opportunities 

 of visiting the theatre, and he was thus led to draw up 

 a kind of play from Ogilvy's Homer, eked out with his 

 own compositions, and which was acted by his school- 

 fellows, the character of Ajax having been performed 

 by the master's gardener. 



At Binfield, to which he retired at the age of twelve, 

 he became acquainted with the writings of Spencer, 

 Waller, and Dryden, for the last of whom he always 



