tors, IT have faid nothing, though many 
ferious complaints hae be urged in 
their behaif. At prefent, I am only at 
leifure to take a fhorr furvey of this ex- 
tenfive {ybjeét, and can furnith rhe reader 
with bit hafty and imperfect hints; fuf- 
ficient, I hope, to excite, if not to fist, 
enquiry ; to provoke a difpofition to re- 
medy exifing impofitions, if not to ep- 
poie eftablilhed | fyftems. 
Fr is the duty of the grand jury; 
fherifis, to inquire into the ftate of the 
prifons in their refpedlive counties, and 
to fee grievances redrefled. And the vi- 
gilance 
aot queftion : but when FE fay fame, I 
mean to {peak with large exceptions : 
and 1 could produee an inftance of a 
grand jury that went in their official thas 
saéters to hear the complaints of a cer- 
tain prifoner ; yet the evils complained 
ef were little attended to, and remain 
unaltered to this day. 
' Inquirtes of this kind, fir, F am aware 
carry a forbidding appearance: they hold 
no rank’ in the eircle of the polite arts; 
they are unconnected with curious fpecu- 
lanons, unfavourable to the fallies of 
a lively imagination. Of Howard, it has 
been faid, that he pore on thefe dark 
eee for want of a luminous under- 
fanding ; that his ratte) found that re- 
pele to prifons which it could not in 
{irerature. 
On this infinuation I have no remarks 
to make, farther than by oberving, that 
no character, however great, or however 
ae would be difgraced or enfeebled 
by fuch inveftigations : but ir is not for 
every man, however well di:poted, to 
engage in therm. [Enquiries of this kind, 
if “fuccefsfully purfued, muft be occa- 
fionally Auended’ with ftrenuous exer- 
tions, and gencrous actions. A man who 
witfhes to advance in them, mutt be pof- 
feffed of leifure and independence, or his 
path will foon be hedged up by impofi- 
tions and difficulties that he mut not en- 
gaze, and by feeing diftreffes that he 
cares not relieve. The man who enjoys 
the otium cum dignitate 1s the only perfon 
fic for thefe purfuits ; and private in- 
dividuals, polfeffed of proper influence 
and confegquence, would be berter able to 
afcertain, and toe xpofe, impofitions, than 
fuch as attend the gaols in an official cha- 
racter : for, if I mrftake not, the gaoler 
and his fervant cee both attend 
thefe gentlemen ; and were the perfons 
confined to complain of many impotitions 
which they i iter, they would be fubject 
to harih treatment from the gaoler, who 
Hiftory of Jews in England. 
and. 
of feme of thefe gentlemen I fhall. 
[ April 
is poffeffed of variows means of infliGting 
vengeance. 
I here fpeak, fir, not of the perfon 
who may pay a few cecafional vifits to 
thefe places of wretchednefs, but of him 
who thould form in his mind fome ge- 
nerous plan of reform throughout the 
country : who fhould ftudy to fee the 
vils retmedied that have been fo long 
complained of.—Notwithflanding al] that 
has been performed by Howard, there 1s — 
ftill room for the exertions of fuch a man. 
You will perceive, fir, that I have 
been tpeaking of Impofttions: the Defedcis 
in gaols may probably furnifh matter for 
a furore Letter. I remain, fir, your's 
refpecifully G. D: 

For the Monthly Magazines 
Or JEws in ENGLAND: 
[Concluded fram out lafi.] 
church of England, jealous from 
its ~mfancy, had obtained, in’ the 
feventh year of James J, an aét, which 
prevented all perfons from being natu- 
ralized, unlefs they firft received the fa- 
crament of the Lord’s fupper, according 
to its own peculiar and exceptionable 
mode cf commemoration. This act ef- 
icétually excluded the Jews from being 
naturalized ; till, in the year 1753, a bill 
was brought mto the houfe of Lords, 
and paffed there without oppofition, 
which provided, that ail perfons profeff< 
ing the Jewifl: religion, who have re- 
fided in Great Britain or Ireland for 
three years, without being abfent more 
than three months at one time during 
that {pace, may, upon application for 
that purpofe, be naturalized by parlia< 
ment, without receiving the facrament 
of the Lord’s fupper. But all perfons 
profefling the Jewith religion, are, by 
this aét, difabled frem purchafing, or 
inheriting any advowfon, right of patro- 
nage, &c. to any benefice or ecclefiaftical 
promotion, fchool, hofpital, or donative 
whatfoever. On the 16th of April, this 
bill was fent down to the houfe of com= 
mons, ordered to be printed, and on the 
oth of May read a fecond time, when a 
motion was made for its being committed. 
Lord a Lord Duplin, Robert 
Nugent, Efq. and Henry Pelham, Efq. 
were among its moft eloquent advo- 
cates ; Lord Egmont, Str Edmund 
Ifham, among its more zealous oppo - 
nents. The bill was fupperted by the 
petitions of a few merchants, chiefly difs 
fidents, and countenanced by the mini- 
firy, who argued ¢ 
That it would increafe the mi 
ap 
EHe 
