near home, I saw sufficient reason to believe, that they presented but too faithful a view of the general distress of such families throughout this and the neighbouring counties. And the vast increase of the poor-rate, at that time every where a subject of complaint, rendered it very probable that the same misery had overspread the kingdom. 'On my suggesting this to some friends who interest themselves in the welfare of the poor, we thought this matter deserving of a fuller scrutiny. And in order to collect information, an abstract of these accounts was printed, and many copies were distributed. We supposed that two or three papers returned from every county, carefully filled up, would furnish us amply with the information we desired. I have to regret that a greater number of those distributed papers has not been returned. The few I have received confirm the opinion previously entertained of the general distress of labouring people, and of the insufficiency of their wages for the supply of their wants. But the accounts themselves will evince this much better than many words.' These returns, however, amount to more than thirty; and, most fortunately, they were received from widely different parts of the island, from Cornwall even unto Sutherland: mostly from country gentlemen; some from clergymen. Each of these accounts sets forth the earnings and the expences of poor families of different sizes, and composed of individuals of different ages; each being particularized thus forming most valuable data for calculations on this truly important subject. We transcribe the account of one family in the parish of Barkham, Berks, consisting of a man, his wife, and five children; the eldest eight years of age; the youngest an infant. To the above Amount of Expences per annum 23 4 9 Total of Expences per annum 6 29 4 9 22 2 O of a week's labour, where the labourer is employed constantly, all weather, the year through Annual Expences. Rent of a cottage and garden, from 11. 5s. to zl. 2s. say Fuel, if bought, costs 12s. but reckoned here at a week's wages, because a man can in a week cut turf enough on the common to serve the year, and the farmers give the carriage for the ashes Clothing.The Man's: wear of a suit per annum 5s.; wear of a working jacket and breeches 4s.; two shirts 85.; one pair of stout shoes nailed 7s.; two pair of stockings 4s.; hat, handkerchief, &c. 2s.:-sum il. 10s. The Woman's: wear of gown and petticoats 4s.; one shift 3s. 6d. ; one pair of strong shoes 4s.; one pair of stockings 1s. 6d. ; two aprons 35.; handkerchiefs, caps, &c. 48.-sum 11.---But as few poor people can every year bestow on themselves the sums here supposed, let the children's clothing (partly made up of the parents' old clothes, partly bought at second-hand) be included, and the whole estimated at Lying-in, sickness and loss of time thereby; burials, and loss of time by extreme bad weather; estimated one year with another at £.6 0 - Rent, fuel, clothing, lying-in, &c. are set down in the column at 61. to every family alike, because it is the least sum at which those articles can well be reckoned. The tea used per family is from 1 to 1 oz. per weck, at 2d. per oz. Soft sugar, lb. at 7d. to 8d. per Ib. Salt butter or lard, lb. at 7d. to 8d. per lb. • Poor people reckon cheese the dearest article they can buy. Malt is so dear, they seldom brew any small beer, except against a lying-in, or a christening. To eke out soap, they burn green fern, and knead the ashes into balls, with which they make a lye for washing.' Τα To shew that the condition of the day labourer has been growing worse continually, from the middle of the fourteenth century to the present time,' this practical philanthropist has adduced, doubtless with much labour, the following relative proportions between labour and the necessaries of life, at different periods, which is highly interesting: About the Middle of Seventeenth Century. In Essex the medium pay of a labourer (rated) was 13d. = 4 days = a quarter of malt a quarter of oats • Latter 20 or 21 days = a quarter of wheat a quarter of malt 41 days 36 days 96 days 27 or 28 days 41 days 6 days 1. day I day 3 40 days 9 days a fat hog, 14 score, at 8s. per score a quarter of barley a flitch of bacon, six score, at 8s. a yard of cloth for servants a pair of men's shoes less than a gallon of ale lbs. ordinary cheese 1 lb. butter clothing for a year of a common servant of husbandry.' At the close of these curious particulars, Mr. Davies says, I cannot forbear adding here, the following just and striking observation by Dr. Price. [See Rev. Paym. vol. ii. p. 273.] "The nominal price of day-labour is at present no more than about four times, or at most five times higher than it was in 1514. But the price of corn is seven times, and of flesh meat and raiment about fifteen times higher. So far therefore has the price of labour been from advancing in proportion to the increase in the expences of living, that it does not appear that it bears now half the proportion to those expences that it did bear formerly." With information like this before us, can we harbour a doubt with respect to the deplorable state of the poor labourers of the present day? or hesitate a moment, with respect to the necessity of meliorating their condition? For the means of relief proposed by this benevolent clergyman, we must refer our readers back to the contents of the volume, as we have already given them, or to the volume itself; which every one, who is interested in the condition of his fellowcreatures, will read with grateful approbation and advantage. Our measure of tribute is full. Mars..ll ART. VII. Specimens of Arabian Poetry, from the earliest Time to the Extinction of the Khalifat. With some Account of the Authors. By J. D. Carlyle, B. D. F. R. S. E. Chancellor of Carlisle, and Professor of Arabic in the University of Cambridge*. 4to. pp. 260. 178. Boards. Payne. 1796. was s the Arabians cultivated letters at a period in which A Europe was immerged in the deepest barbarism, Bagdad was the centre of politeness, of science, and of the arts, when *For an account of Mr. Carlyle's edition of the Maured Allatafet, sce Rev. N. S. vol. x. p. 361. Rome Rome was the resort of wild superstition, the arena of warlike ferocity, or the theatre of gross licentiousness. In order, however, to appreciate the splendor of their genius, or the extent of their knowlege, during this flourishing period, we must not adopt the method of the learned Editor of the work before us, and institute a comparison of their productions with the contemporaneous writings of Europe: the poet at the court of Al Rashid, were he now to revisit this earth, might smile at the passage quoted by Mr. Carlyle from the romance of Richard Coeur de Lion, and be himself a very indifferent poetPerhaps, indeed, the literary attainments of the Arabians have been inadvertently exaggerated by many who have treated of Oriental learning, from neglecting to compare their productions with those of periods in which any traces of excellence are discernible :-but, to confine ourselves to poetry, it has been frequently remarked that they never attempted the more sublime provinces of this enchanting art, the EPIC and the DRAMATIC *; and we shall search in vain for a Virgil or a Shakspeare among the most celebrated writers who embellished the Khalifat. Professor Carlyle, however, is not disposed to concede this fact; for he supports the converse proposition, and observes that The Arabian writer, who attempted either of the above-mentioned species of composition, did not consider it necessary that his work should be constructed entirely in verse; the descriptions, the similitudes, the reflections, and many of the speeches, he expressed in numbers, but the narrative part he was satisfied with delivering in simple prose. Several tales of the "Thousand and One Nights" are written in this mixed manner, and their effect upon the passions of the reader, even under the mutilated form in which they appear to us, is pretty generally acknowledged.' From this passage, we are almost at a loss to discover whether we should consider the tales of the Arabian Nights as epic poems or as dramas:-but be that as it may, we must infer that they rest their claim to either of these descriptions of character, on being composed partly in verse, or partly in dialogue-whereas, had they been constructed entirely in verse, we should never have considered them as entitled to any other appellation than that of tales; and where shall we find tales in which the narrative is not frequently colloquial? The "Shepherdess of the Alps" is composed mostly in dialogue; a poetical expression pervades the narrative part, and its effect on the passions is indisputable: but still it is only a tale, though a *The book of Job will not furnish a sufficient objection to this remark, beautiful |