NEAR TADCASTER. 
15 
" assistance is to be given to the labourer, while 
(i he possesses any thing of his own;" and that 
what, with much labour and much self- 
denial, he shall have saved, must all be ex- 
hausted and spent, before his claim to pa- 
rochial relief can be admitted. It may be 
well to consider what incitement he has to 
thrift and forethought. Can we confidently 
answer for ourselves that, so circumstanced, 
we should act even as well, and look as 
much to futurity, as he does ; or that we 
should not be made mere sensualists by 
despondency ? Is, it perfectly clear, that 
we should not spend every penny that 
could be spared from the daily nourish- 
ment of our families, in self-indulgence at 
an ale-house ? 
Happy should I be, if I could make use 
of the h.story of Britton Abbot, VVant of cot- 
to obtain lor the labourer, en- tages for the 
couragement to imitate the ener- P°°r- 
gy of his industry. Of the different modes 
of aiding and animating the poor, none 
would have more tendency to raise them 
above the want of parochial aid, than that 
of enabling them progressively to follow 
his example, in such a manner, that the 
most deserving might in their turn become 
the owners of comfortable cottages and pro- 
ductive gardens ; a measure which seems to 
be peculiarly called for by the present con- 
dition ol the dwellings of the poor. It is 
a melancholy fact that, in most parts of 
