1799] 
vious, alfo, that there would be lefs frequent 
occafion for parochial relief than there is 
now. At prefent the parifh is often called 
‘on to pay rents; and thefe rents are, with 
few exceptions, very high; if the parifh 
had built cottages, I think they would 
never have had occafion to pay thefe rents : 
at any rate, as the rents mu/f? neceffarily 
have been lower, they would never have 
had occafion to pay fo much. It is a 
common complaint, that cottages yield 
an inadequate intereft: perhaps a ftill 
more common complaint is, that the 
trouble of colleéting thirty or forty fhil- 
Jings a year from one, and fifty or fixty 
fhillings from another, and fo on, is more 
than the money is worth. Make it a 
parochial concern, and thefe objections, 
which deter country gentlemen from build- 
ing cottages, inthe firft place, and which, 
in the fecond place, fometimes prompt 
them, moft unfortunately, to fuffer thole 
which are built, to fall in ruins, imme- 
diately vanifh. If there be any lofs at- 
tached to cottages, let the parifh at large, 
who live by the laborious induftry of their 
inhabitants, fhare that mighty. lofs in 
common! If there be any trouble in col- 
le&ting fcattered rents of two, three, or 
four pounds each, let the parifh alfo bear 
in common that trouble—that heavy and 
oppreflive trouble! at all events, let the 
poor be made comfortable if poflible; 
let them know the luxury ‘of domeftic 
neatnels; but they never can know it, 
without domeftic accommodation or con- 
venience. A cheerful habitation will im- 
part fome portion of its cheerfulnefs to the 
man who inhabits it: it will lighten his 
labour in the day, to know that he can 
enjoy himfelf at night over a clean hearth 
and a lively fire: on the other hand, when 
aman looks forward to a fort of dungeon, 
to a cracked, half-thatched, half-lighted 
hovel, as the miferable repofitory for his 
tired limbs, his mind, in this cafe as in 
the other, is aflimilated to his habitation 
—it becomes gloomy, comforilefs, and 
wretched *, Yours, &c, v8 
SS 

* I remember to have read fome very ad- 
mirable obfervations on this fubject, in the 
eighth volume of the Bath Suciety’s papers on 
agriculture: it is many months ago fince J 
read them, and not having the volume be- 
fore me, I cannot refer tothe page. I was 
much ftruck with them at the time, and with 
“ery much to call the public attention to them. 
J think they form part of an elaborate and in- 
genious introduction to the velume which in- 
troduGtion I alfo thing was written by the 
Seeretary, whofe name has efcaped my memory. 
MONTHLY Mac. No. xtyv, 
Queries concerning the Fews.--- Biography. 
2361 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
S .the troubles which now agitate, 
and the events which are daily 
taking .place in the eaftern part of our 
hemifphere, feem peculiarly calculated to 
dire the attention of the chriftian philo- 
fopher toward that long defpifed, neglected, 
and unhappy people, the Fews; permit 
me, through the medium of your widely 
circulated, and excelient mifcellany; to 
folicit from fome one of your intelligent 
correfpondents, an elucidation of the fol - 
lowing queries, relative to that nation. 
It would confer an additional obligation 
upon me, if any learned member of that 
body would favour me with a reply. I 
with to be informed : 
1. Is the divifion of the Jews into 
twelve tribes, a diftinétion ftill kept up 
by that nation; if fo, has each family a 
knowledge of the particular tribe to which 
it belongs—-and is the office of the prieft- 
hood ftill a diftiné&t appendage to that of 
Levi ? 
2. As the old teftament pofitively 
afferts, and I believe the Jews themfelves 
acknowledge, that the Chrift was to de- 
{cend-from-the ftock of David, is there 
any family or families now in exiftence, 
acknowledged by their nation, or con- 
fidered by themfelves, as the lineal de- 
{cendants of that monarch ? 
3. What is their prevailing opinion 
relative to the fate of the ark, and do they 
give any credit to the account of it con- 
tained in the firft feven verfes of the fecond 
chapter of the 2 Macabees ? 
Birmingham, Yours, &c. 
April-14, 1799. Wie Ps 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
NEGLECTED BIOGRAPHY. 
NUMBER II. 
LIFE OF HENRY BURTON, DIVINE, 
HE account of this noted character 
given inthe ** General Biographical 
Dictionary,” is very incorrect and meagre ; 
-he may, therefore, with great propriety, 
be introduced into this colle&tion, more. 
efpecially as the following particulars con- 
cerning him are novel and entertaining. 
Henry Burton was born at Birdfall, in 
Yorkthire, in 1578, and was educated at 
St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he 
took his degrees in arts, but afterwards 
became B.D. at Oxford. The univer- 
fity of Cambridge was then greatly in- 
fected with puritanifm, and the leading 
divines in that way were Mr. W. Perkins 
and Mr. Chaderton, by whofe preaching 
Burton fays ‘* he had his eyes opened.’” 
cee From 
