‘a cultom, happily mo 
1801.] 
before. it is controverted, that the wor/? 
vices of poverty are not /o bad as barbarity 
‘and hardnefs of heart—as the lofs of that 
principle within, on which hangs every 
thing valuable in the poor man’s character; 
but which is indeed an ample moral re- 
compence for every mifchief to which he’ 
may be goaded by the circumftances that 
mutt take place in the beft-regulated foci- 
ety. If then the pains of poverty are not 
fo great to the tender mind, as the pains of 
repugnant to the 
native feelings of the heart ; we gain no- 
thing in point of happinefs by the expedient 
propofed. And if the vices of poverty are 
not fo debafing, unnatural, nor pregnant 
with fuch baneful confequences to fociety, 
as the vice of habitual murder, as the 
cold unfeeling facrifice of innocence and 
parental affection on the bloody altar of 
ftate expedience—we do not gain much, I 
conceive, in point of virtue. In the 
words then of Mr. Godwin, we may fay, 
“< there is nothing very feducing or agree- 
able in the appearance” of thefe fubfti- 
tutes. But, he adds, ‘* I hope no fuch 
expedients will be neceflary to be reforted 
to in any flate of fociety which fhail ever 
be introduced in this or the! furrounding 
countries,’’—-** I have not introduced theie 
particulars as feeming to me neceflary to 
the folution of the dithculty propofed.”’ 
By what other methods then is the diff- 
culty to be removed? 1ft. By the future 
poffible difcoveries of the human mind. 
2d. By allowing every marriage to pro- 
duce only fwo or three, or, at moft, four, 
children.—But Mr. Godwin has not ‘dit- 
covered, or rather not difclofed, any {cheme 
for limiting the number of children toa 
marriage fo that they fhall not exceed 
the number four. He has therefore either 
deft the difficulty as he found it, or muft be 
fuppofed to refer us to one of the expe- 
dients confidered above: now both o 
thefe he has rejected: laftly, he reforts to 
the exifting checks on population, iv de- 
fpair of finding fubftitutes ; and .afferts, 
that in the improved ftate of fociety, to 
which he anxioufly looks forward, the pru- 
dential confiderations which form the prin- 
cipal reftraints at prefent, will have greater 
weight, and more general effect than they 
have in the times we live in. But he has 
not fupported this aflertion, by replying to 
the powerful arguments of his opponent 
againit this hypothefis, derived from a 
confideration of the nature of man, and 
the paft hiftory of his kind in conneéticn 
with this fubject. 
To fum up the whole: It feems then 
MQNtTHLxY Mac, Neo. 79. 
Pedeftrian Excurfion through England and Wales. 
305 
that Mr. Godwin has propofed expedients* 
for ftemming the tide of population, which 
ftrike as revolting on the heart as they ap- 
pear injudicious to the head—or, he has 
furnifhed means perfectly inadequate ta 
the end—or, he has referred the (clution 
of the difficulty to the acuter intellects 
which future times may perchance bring 
forth. ioe i 
I with, in conclufion, to offer to the con- 
fideration of thofe who take an intereft in 
thefe {peculations, the following problem: 
‘What would be the improvement in. the 
moral condition of man, were he fublimed 
to the utmoft pitch of intellectual excel- 
lence, yet deprived of thofe pleafures 
which are the primary fource of the pa 
rental, filial, and conjugal affeCtions, and 
are the chief fupport of all the endearing 
charities of domeftic life?” I propofe this 
queftion, becanfé it is obvious that Mr. 
Godwin’s fcheme, when perfected, will in- 
clude the downfall of family-empire, and 
the annihilation of fire-fide enjoyments. 
Hitherto I had always confidered that 
chapter in the Political Juftice, which 
treats of the omnipotence of intellest, and 
its fublime inventions, as 4n amuiing f{pe- 
‘culation not neceffarily connected with the 
leading obje&ts of Mr. Godwin’s inquiries, 
and as fuch have always defended it: but 
the ferious defence of it, conducted in fo 
pertinacicus a ftyle, which is now {et up, 
removes all doubts from my mind of its 
being the darling child of an ovér-fond 
parent, whofe anxiety for its fafety never 
flumbers, and whofe exertions to fupport 
it are never-ceafing, Your’s, &c. 
Shrewybury, Sept. 14, 180%. Ww. 
cE f 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
A PEDESTRIAN EXCURSION through ENG- 
LAND Gud WALES, during the SUMMER 
of 1797. 
(Continued from Page 200.) mm 
) ATH has been too often deferibed to 
}} need any particular notice here: andy 
it it had not been fo, it is a fubje& much 
too copious to he introduced in thefe brief 
and hafty fketches. Even a general criti- 
cifm on the fiyle and arrangement of the 
objects that rife in fucceffion upon the ob-~ 
See 
’ * T have confidered thefe two expedients 
under one view: becaufe, until Mr. Godwin 
can produce better evidence for the fafety and 
innocence of the medicines which he recom- 
mends, than ** I am told they are innoxi+ 
ous,” the prevailing prejudices will continue 
to be felt. . Therecanaot be much difference * 
in their moral effegts, ~ 
Rr fervant 
