ae 
thefe parties arife mot of the impediments 
to the enclofure and confequent improve- 
ment of our wafte lands. ‘The freeholders, 
forefeeing, or a€tually meeting. with, fo 
many unfair, and in their opinion inadmif- 
fible claims, are intimidated or difgutted ; 
and refolve-to let the land remain in the 
‘ fame uncultivated flate as they found it, 
rather than confent to fo great a diminu- 
tion of their rights and property. 
3. The gentlemen of the lorfg robe 
muit of courfe feel very powerful motives 
for oppofing a General Enclofure Bill, as it 
. would greatly curtail their emoluments. 
‘The procuring an aét fcr a particular en- 
clofure is a very lucrative job to the folici- 
tors and others concerned; and by con- 
falting your Magazine, vol. xii. page 67, 
at will appear “ the laft harveft has been 
unccmmonly plenteous.”*: No wender 
then that a General Enclofure Bill has met 
with fucha formidable oppofition; though 
at the fame time it is equally furprizing, 
that the advocates for fuch an a@ have 
mot been more liberally ftigmatized as Re- 
publicans, Jacobins, and determined ene- 
mies to our good confitution in church 
and ftate. 
Augufi 8. Yours, &c. 
A CITIZEN OF THE WORLD. 
ai 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
“YW AGREE with your mof valuable 
H friend and correfponcent, Mrs. Cappe, 
that the law, as it now ftands, for put- 
ing out the children of the poor as parifh- 
apprentices, has a great tendency to, and 
eften actually does, ** call forth into ac- 
tion the very worft paffions of the human 
frame." For conlider the parties con- 
cerned in this bufinefs, and their mutual 
“reluctance and difguft in every flage of it, 
and it cannot be otherwife. On the one 
hand behold the parents of thefe innocent 
vidlims, retiring in filent anguifh, or 
elfe uttering the moft violent execrations 
again& the parties who are compelled to 
feparate them from their beloved offspring. 
“On the other hand fee the matter to 
whom thefe children are aihgned. He 
murmurs, — is totally averfe to receive 
them, and ccnfiders them as a fevere 
burden impofed upon him, in addition to 
the growing burden of taxes for the peor, 
“his quota ot which he is compelled to pay. 
"Add to this, that the parents being too 
often pérfons of very bad chara@ers, and 
having “their very worft paffions”’ in- 
fiamed by the lofs of their children, too 
‘frequently make it a practice to corrupt 
‘the duétile mind of thefe young ones, and 
a 
On Parifh Arprenticefip-—Lereditary Virtue. [ Feb. 1, 
to incite them to thofe habits of infolence, 
obftinacy, and difhonelty, which renders 
them a moft fubftantial plague to the fa- 
milies on whom they are quartered. In- 
numerable proofs might be given in con- 
firmation of this affertion; and if the 
children happen to furvive the’ period of 
their apprenticefhip, and to fettle in the 
world, the obfervation of this excellent 
lady is equally verified, that they are-far 
“¢ lefs likely than others to conduct them- 
felves well.”> Thus the ‘evil is not only 
perpetuated, but immenfely aggravated. 
For my own part, long experience, and 
no little trouble or fuffering by this prac- 
tice, has difpofed me very cordially to 
wifh that it were “entirely abolifhed.”” 
But as the prefent very critical fituation | 
of this country might render thofe who 
are beit qualified for the tafk unwilling te 
‘undertake it; and the ufeful fcarecrow, 
tanovation, might afford the interefted or 
the timid a pretence for oppofing it, as it 
already has done many other falutary 
plans for reformation ; I have no hopes 
of feeing any effectual redrefs of this ac- 
knowledged grievance. All, therefore, 
which can be done at prefent, feems to be, 
to adopt thofe humane ‘* palliatives,”” 
which Mrs. Cappe has recommended, to~ 
gether with {uch additional ones as the 
“* Kentifh Magiftrates”’ are faid to have 
devifed. By way of contributing my 
mite towards any {cheme for this purpofe, 
I would fuggeft, whether the mafter ought 
not to have fome pecuniary or beneficial 
compenfation allowed to him during the 
time he has an apprentice to maintain, ¢. g. 
a certain reduction in his quota towards 
the poor-rates, or an exemption from 
ferving parifh-offices or as juryman; and 
whether the apprentice might not be fet 
at liberty, with the approbation of a ma- 
giftrate, at any time atter it had attained to 
fourteen years of age. Your’s, 
Aug. 8, 18016 Civis. 
Sneed 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SiR, 
WAS much pleafed with an eflay on 
hereditary virtue, by the Enquirer, 
in vol. xii. p. 14. As I think the 
fubject is not yet exhaufted, I fend you 
the following obijervations :— 
Homer appears to have had this natu- 
ral proclivity in his mind in the tcllowing 
paflage of the Odyfley :— 5 PN 
Tolz yap 4 malpos 6 § wemvupnéva Balers 
Peia 3” agiyyeilos yovog a veges. Lib. iv. 206. 
From the great fire tranfmiffive to the race, 
The boon devolving gives diftinguifhed grace. 
The 
