and the particular style of living incident to the situation of Mr. Wines, we are of opinion that the emoluments of the office he has been pleased to accept, are altogether inadequate to his views and pretensions; and humbly submit, therefore, that to prevent the necessity of peculation, he is entitled to the sum of eleven thousand pounds per annum. The only objection that could be reasonably urged against so extensively beaencia! a plau, is, that there would be some inordinate rogues, who would still remain unsatished. This, however, is not fair to presume, as the fact is otherwise; for it is worthy of remark, that in all cases of public delinquents, they have always had the modesty and discretion to leave something untouched; nor do I believe, that in any case they have taken more than they thought they could take with apparent safety to themselves. In short, it is not pos sible to say what good cffects to the community this plan might not produce, and the effect it might have on the minds of claimants, who would be too modest to ask unconscionably, and who would in all cases be content with less than they probably would have been in private.

I am confidently of opinion, Mr. Editor, that something should be done for this useful and intelligent class of society, or presently the demands of PRIDE, CIRCUMSTANCE, LUXURY, and DISSIPATION, will rise so high, that no place, pension, salary, or fortune, will be able to keep pace with the exigencies they create. it is the manners at table to help every one while he chooses to eat; and the Gourmand is never refused a taste of another dish. In a commercial country, therefore, if a man has an appetite after gain and wealth, it would surely be more handsome, and even poltic, to feed him, than to allow him to pilfer from the table, and to take away in his pocket more than ten times what would have served for his meal.

It is to be hoped, therefore, that the Legislature will take into their consideration, the beltering the condition of rogues; it struck me at first, that the necessary supply might be obtained by a tax on honest men; but I have my doubts, I confess, wheiner that would be productive in these days, when

the

Imponit finem sapiens et rebus Ionestis of Juvenal is so little understood. The wise man, it is true, may fit even

proper things; but, while the folly of men Hving above their incomes is so prevalent, and enforced by the necessity of maintaining certain appearances in life, little hope can be entertained of increasing the stock of honesty.

I recommend, therefore, Mr. Editor, the meltic um described in the above plan, as the only means of surmounting the difficulty, and which is coaforniable to the comraon rules of arithmetic, and within the means of au opulent and liberal nation. I am yours, &c. SIMON SURPLUS. G. P.

March Sih, 1807.

SOUTHAMPTON, FROM HYTHE. [WITH AN ENGRAVING.]

Tis with very singular satisfaction

ingenious friend, enabled to embellish our Magazine with a view of the celebrated town of Southampton; for although it has, both in ancient and modern times, been distinguished as a place of very considerable importance, and has been often described, yet we are of opinion that it possesses beauties which cannot be too frequently brought be fore the eye of the public, because the amenity of its environs, the elegance of its buildings, its picturesque situation, and, inore than all, the salubrity of its atmosphere, reader it equally an object of attraction to those that are in pursuit of pleasure or in pursuit of health.

We have not as yet mentioned SOUTHAMPTON as a commercial town; but in this point of view it has been, and still is, equally important as in the two former. It is distant about seventy-six miles from the metropolis; and is bounded on the east by the river lichen, on the west by the Tese or Antos, which rises near Whitchurch: these rivers give to the site of the town the shape of a peninsula; and as the buildings recede from the shore, the land forms a gentle acclivity, which not only adds to the beauty of the coup d'ail, but renders the streets, even after a heavy shower, almost instantly clean and dry. The entrance mio Southampton by BAR GATE, venerable for its antiquity, has been often delineated; bat it is one of those things that must, from the ever-changing variety which the variations of light, shade, clouds, foliage, and moving objects on the road, afford, that must be seet, to have an adequate idea of its picturesque effect. On the approach to this gate, which terminates

the LONDON ROAD, elegant seats and stately rows of trees line the way on both sides; the occasional view of the water, which at intervals you seem to approach to and recede from, forms an elegant back-ground to this fascinating landscape.

The ancient history of Southampton is involved in that of the ROMANS in Britain. Those people, who always selected with taste and judgment, it is probable became attached to a spot that, in beauty, reminded them of their native country: they therefore formed a station which they called Clausentum. This, from the discovery of coins, urns, the remains of walls, &c., we may conclude, was probably the site on which the village of Bittern, two miles from the present Southampton, now stands.

It would afford little information, and still less pleasure, were we to trace the vicissitudes of this town through the barbarous ages, or to eaumerate how offen it has been subject to the ravages of the Danes and other pirates; but it should be'r peated, that it was on its beach that CANUTE gave to his courtiers that practical lesson of morality which certainly does equal honour to his piety and his understanding.

The plot said to have been formed by the Earl of CAMBRIDGE, ¡ord CROPE, and Sir THOMAS GREY, to assassinate HENRY THE VTH while his feet was wind-bound in the port of Southampton, has been immortalized by Shakspeare; who has, we think, given to an unsubstantial, and an almost impossible project,

"A local habitation and a name;" which has consigned, whether justly or not it is now rather too late to dispute, the conspirators to eternal infamy.

SOUTHAMPTON in its present state exhibits evident traces of recent improvement. The timber buildings have receded from the high street, and brick houses have been chiey substituted. In this, which is one of the most beautiful mural avenues in England, extending from the Bar Gate to the Water Gate, there are shops, which, for the variety and richness of their commodities, may vie with any in London. Here are apartments which, equally pleasant and commodious, are frequently let to summer visitants. Conduits are disposed at proper distances, which supply the place with excellent water; and, except in the eastern parts of the town, the streets are well paved, lighted, and regularly paby watchmen.

Many new and elegant piles of building have been erected within these few years. Of these, Albion-place, Moiraplace, Brunswick-place, &c., from the elegance of their designs, do honour to the taste and judgment of their architects. The population of the town, &c., is said to amount to 10,000.

Of the religious edifices, the principal is HOLYROOD Church, in the Highstreet. S. MICHAEL'S has a slender octagonal spire, which serves as a landmark for ships entering the harbour. ALL SAINTS is an elegant modern structure, and exhibits a beautiful specimen of the taste of its architect, Mr. Revely, ST. LAWRANCE is also in the Highstreet. The church of ST. MARY is remarkable for two things, viz. the value of its benefice, said to be 14001. per annum, and the beautiful situation of its cemetery.

The lodgings, boarding-houses, baths, inns, public-rooms, theatre, libraries, and iniscellaneous amusements, of this elegant town, have been so frequently described, that little information could be derived from our contracted allusion to these subjects. Our only object in this sketch is, to catch the reflection from the print to the page, to turn the mind of the reader to that kind of contemplation which the general view of one of the most delightful towns that our island includes may produce, and create in him a desire to enter into a minute disquisition of its interior beauties; which, he will gather from these desultory hints, are in every respect equally interesting.

HYTUF, a small hamlet on the Southampton river, has nothing remarkable to claim any particular notice, further than being a ferry to Southampton, which is only three miles distant; but the picturesque scenery from the shore of this place, makes it an object to any visitor to Southampton, and would fully repay his curiosity in crossing over to see this beautiful town to the best advantage. It cominands its whole extent with the public Baths, Ball-rooms, Custom-house, the Marquis of Lansdowne's Castle and Tower, the Ancient Walls, Holyrood, St. Michael's and All Saints' Churches, Itchen Ferry, and Netley Abbey, with the full extent of the River to Calshot Castle, and the Isle of Wight.

Here some small coasting vessels are built; the shallowness of the shore preventing their having any of larger dimensions, than from 50 to 60 tons

E have, in the last and preceding Chapters, seen the City of Westminster in its progressive state of improvement, and have, in some degree, endeavoured to trace the causes that operated toward the building and peopling that long-neglected part of the metropolis: it is, therefore, proper that we should return to London, and, by observing its state at the periods of, and subsequent to, the Reformation, float this our little bark down the stream of time to the Port at which this the third voyage of its desultory course shall terminate.

It has been already seen, in our former pages, that within the walls of London, the churches, the palaces, and the mansions of the Nobility, occupied a considerable space; the monasteries and houses dedicated to the reception of religious societies still more; and that these trenched upon the ground which might have been employed to commercial purposes; while the city, taken in a general view, displayed a singular intermixture of edifices devoted to splendor, to sanctity, and to industry.

The Reformation, in the change of religious principles, effected also a change in the appearance of London, which has been compared to a bee-hive; and its inhabitants, who have been divided into two great classes, the religious and secular orders of society, to DRONES and HONEY-BECS. These, in consequence of that event, became, at least with respect to external appearance, blended; and it is probable that, in the course of a few years, they were thoroughly amal gamated with the mass of the citizens.

If we for a moment take a retrospective view, we shall discover that the seeds of that great event which caused so beneficial a change in the religious and moral habits of the people, at the same time produced so plentiful a harvest to the avaricious courtiers of Henry the VHlth, were sown so long antecedent to their maturity as Europ. Mag. Vol. LI, June 1807.

the time of CHAUCER. The father of English verse, and almost of the English language, seems to have descanted on the vices of the clergy as on a favourite theme. Their ambition, pride, ostentation, avarice, and other passions and propensities, perhaps deserved the eastigation which he has bestowed upon them: yet it will be remembered, that, although under the influence of John of Gaun!, he breathed the spirit of his contemporary Wickliff; his senior Boccace, who could have had no such stimulation, has been still more severe upon the irregularities of the religious Orders: whence we may suppose, that they deserved both the censure and ridicule which was so freely bestowed upon them; which, descending, spread among the succeeding Italian poets and novelists, and is to be traced even into the Vatican: thence, either from motives of liberality or insanity, encouraged by Leo the Xth and other Pontills, satires and stories levelled at the root of the establishment of which they were the head were circulated and promulgated through Europe: the consequence of which was, that although at first by slow and almost imperceptible degrees, yet gathering strength and celerity by time, they sapped the foundation of that superstructure which, in this kingdom, Henry overturned.

"The unkennelling of the Romish Fox," as it was then termed, must, in the City, have produced a very singular ellect. The splendor of the monastic buildings, many of which we have mentioned, had, from the time of the axons, been gradually expanding. Age uter age increased their number, enlarged their size, and added to their ornaments. These fabrics, venerable for their antiquity, still more venerable as monuments of the unfected piety of their founders, and highly respect able as specimens of the architectural taste, and depositaries of the effusions of the literary and graphic genius of former centuries, in the cours, of a few years were nearly annihilated.

The scramble among the rapacious courtiers of Heary was at first for grants (sometimes at rents merely nominal) of the houses, then for the

* The literacy productions of the ecclesiasties encouraged by this Pontiff, in there

immoral teniency, fully justifies every thing

that had been written before respecting the enormities of the priesthood.

Hhh

knocked down, if he had encouraged the application of the revenues annexed to any of their establishments, but to the most holy and charitable purposes *.

From the circumstance of the application, or rather, we should perhaps say, the misapplication, of the monastic revenues, it became necessary to erect an office for the management of the multifarious concerns which this, the greatest change of property

that had occurred in the kingdom since the Norman Conquest, involved. This office, which was termed the Court of Augmentation, was established A D. 1536: it was composed of a Chancellor, Treasurer, Surveyor, and ten inferior officers. Among the last of its exertions was the arrangement of the income arising from the dissolution of the CHANTRIES, which were foundations that certamly originated from superstition, and were probably nurtured by priesteraft. Chantries were generally annexed to churches, and were productive of great emolument, as each had a separate landed estate devoted to the pious purpose of performing masses for departed souls. It is stated that there were no less than forty-seven in St. Paul's Cathedral. The Grey Friars had a great number, Westminster Abbey still more, and the abbey of St. Mary, Bermondsey, its full share indeed, there were few churches in the metropolis in which chantries were not founded. From these the priests derived a very considerable part of their incomes. It has been said, that by these almost constant orisons and requiems the flame of devotion was kept alive; but we fear, notwithstanding its hourly excitation, it emitted but a lukewarm effervescence. We can still remember how much the early prayers at Westminster were neglected; and know that they have been discontinued, for want of auditors, at most of the churches in which the piety of our ancestors had established them: therefore, for the same reason, we believe that the monks, in many instances, chanted by themselves. This was probably the ostensible cause why chantries were, in December 1517, by Parliament, given to the King; though the neglect, or even the abuse of an establishment, is no reason why the profits derived from it should be a propriated to other purposes. Leaving PURGATORY Out of question, prayers for the departed could never be deemed superfluous. This was indeed the idea of many devout Protestants, who in vam used their efforts to prevent the last remnant of that immense nass of property which had been, within fifteen years, wrested from the Romish Clergy, from being shared among those of the laity, who, for their pride, avarice, and numerous other faults, they did not deem much

How those incomes were applied in England, it is not necessary here to inquire: the miseries of the poor, the increase of indigence, from A.D. 1539 to the beginning of the seventeenth century, is shown by the promulgation of the statute 43 Eliz.; an Act which, however it may from others deserve unqualified praise, as the foundation of a code of laws which we feel little disposition to commend, was, we must allow, both necessary and agreeable: necessary, as it provided for the support of the poor, and agreeable to the descendants of the sharers in the spoils of the Church +, as it relieved thein from

more immaculate than its former possessors. Philosophically speaking, it may be made a question, Whether, when persons of large fortunes were in the habits of devoting a small part of their revenues to the purpose of singing requiems for the departed souls of their parents, husbands, wives, children, or near relations, however mistaken they might have been, the money was not as well applied as at present in large subscriptions to the opera? In the former instance, it found its way into the pockets of Roman Catholics, who we must suppose were generally pious; in the latter, while some of it, perhaps, contributes to the support of an establishment, in these times, disgraceful to the nation, it encourages Roman Catholics, who we know are generally profligate.

*The precursor of this statute [the 14 Eliz. c. 5.] was the first legal and effectual parish assessment for the poor in England; though so difficult was the subject, that there had been seven antecedent ones.

The church lands were, in many instances, obtained at no greater trouble or expense than that of a few Bows at Court; or at most, it is observed by Lord Herbert, [p. 441,] sold by the King at very low rates, to enable the purchasers to keep up the hospitality practised by the Monks when they possessed them. This was enforced under a penalty of 61. 13s. 4d. per month. But the penalty not being ordinarily required, due hospitality was neglected, and wholly aboished at the supplication of the Parliament [21 Jac. I.] This seems to have been a most impolitic measure, as it destroyed the last vestige of the claims of the poor upon the possessors of church lands, and threw them at once upon the landed and trading interests in general. As the smallest sagacity would have foreseen this was the natural consequence of shutting the monastic kitchens, which in former times had been ever open to the indigent of the neighbourhood, nad the purchasers of church lands in every parish been obliged, by their tenures, to support the poor thereof, or at least to contribes