q 
1804.] 
privations of the rich man, according as he 
pofleffes five hundred, or five thoufand, or 
ten thoufand a year, (for the Bifhop’s ar- 
gument includes all the extremes of for+ 
tune), are, if he feels himfelf pref by the 
exigencies of the times, and if his very 
rank and fortune does not fupply to him 
the means of replenifhing his purfe, which 
it very frequently does, to lay down one 
of his carriages, to feil his pack of hounds, 
to drink port inftead of chainpagne, to 
tat from a lervice of china inftead of plate, 
or of earthenware inftead of china, to re- 
trench an eftablifhment kept for thew, or, 
at worft, that himfelf and, perhaps, his 
wile and daughters fhould take fome finall 
fhare in thofe uleful labours of fociety by 
which we are all maintained. But what 
are the privations of the poor man? If 
you take away part of his.meal, you leave 
him hungry and fpiritlefs ; if you take 
away part of his clothes, you leave him 
not fufhicient to defend him againft the 
inclemencies of the weather ; if you take 
away his fingle candle and his peck of 
coals, you leave him to a cold hearth, and 
the long darknefs of a winter’s evening. 
Ido not afk whether thefe privations are 
_more fevere than the former, but whether 
they are of the fame nature. I know that 
the {ympathy of the rich is very much 
alive to the former kind of diftrefles, I 
know they are feverely felt by pride and 
habitual indolence. I remember a very 
fenfible woman once faying, that fhe 
thought no people were fo much to be 
pitied as thote ladies who can but juft af- 
ford to keep a carriage. Neither would 
I refufe to allow for the privation of ha- 
bitual indulgencies, for the wants of tafte, 
er to fympathife in the painful feelings of 
being thruft down from our accuftomed 
place in fociety. They are hard to bear, 
they are exercifes for Chriftian patience ; 
but never can I confent to rank with the 
fickly cravings of luxury thofe pinching 
wants which affect health and the firft ne. 
ceflities of nature. But the good Bithop 
is prepared to meet the confequence ; he 
does not fhrink from inveftigating the ef- 
ets of taxation upon the poor man; he 
coolly drives him from beer to water, 
' from the luxury of bread to the bark of 
trees, and from having a blanket on his 
fhoulders to having nothing to cover him ; 
nay, he profeffes to believe in the words of 
Shakefpeare, who, however, introduced 
the obfervation for ne fuch purpofe, that 
the mere wants of nature require man to 
live no better than the beafts. This, in- 
deed, comes very near to fending the peo- 
Pie out to graze, The oblervation re- 
Remarks on the Bifhop of Landaff 5 Speech. 
907 
minds me of a fpeech which a certain po- 
litical charaéter is {aid to have made to 
fome poor people on the attempt to fubfti- 
tute, during the fcarcity, brown bread 
for white. **Do not eat it; for if you do, 
they will make you eat gyrafs next.’ 
Among the thirty thoufand copies which 
are likely to be fpread abroad of this 
Speech, let us hope that not one will fall 
into the handsof the lower claffes : it would 
not be eafy to fay, it might not be prudent 
to gue(s at the effect which fuch reprefenta- 
tions might have upon their feelings. — 
And is bread then a luxury ? dry bread! 
Surely my Lord of Landaff will not think 
it too prefuming in a poor man, to ufe the 
modeit and fimple petition taught him by 
his great Mafter: Give us this day our 
daily bread. Dr. Watfon will probably 
urge that the affertion is only, that bread 
is a luxury to him who is accuftomed to 
live upon the bark of trees; but the mif- 
take feems to be in calling it a luxury at 
all. The bark of trees can never in anz 
country afford that wholefome and fufh- 
cient nourifhment which is neceflary to 
fupport the life of man in health and 
vigour; the man who wants a blan- 
ket to his fhoulders or to his bed, wants 
it, not becaufe his neighbour has. it, 
or has it not, but becaufe, without it, 
his limbs will be penetrated with cold 
and rendered uflelefs by rheumatifms. 
The life of a man cannot be fuftained as 
cheaply as that of a beaft, unlefs Nature 
had given him a covering of wool or fur, 
and formed his ftomach in a different 
manner. Iam fenfible of the difficulty of 
drawing a line between the wants of lux- 
ury and thofe of nature ; in many in- 
ftances their limits touch one another, but 
the extremes are apparent enough; the 
want of a fervice of plate, and the want 
of a fhelter from the weather, can by no 
fophifm be brought under the fame predi- 
cament. 
The poor man, in truth, fhould be left 
as free as poflible from the burden of 
taxes, becaufe few of them are incurred 
upon his account. The neceffity of them 
arifes from the fplendour neceflary to be 
kept up in a numerous Court—from wars 
entered into to fupport national honour, 
or commercial interefis ; and caufes of the 
like nature. Stationary in his humble 
pehtion, the poor man fees the golden 
tide {well around him, in which he is ne- 
ver ableto bathe his lips; and this affords 
a {trong reafon why he fhould not have 
thofe moderate comforts infringed upon 
which are effential to his well-being.— 
But I feel Ihave faid enough, and per. 
haps 
