provement. In parishes where the means of public worship are but imperfectly enjoyed, the faculty of reading is the great engine to be made use of to supply the deficiency. And even in parishes more happily situated, this faculty is still of great value; for we almost invariably find, that to the wholly uneducated poor the instructions of the pulpit appear uninteresting, and frequently unintelligible; and the impression, not being renewed during the week by private reading, is too often wholly obliterated before the succeeding Sunday. Besides, the mere vacuity of mind, which is almost always found in those who cannot read, and are therefore destitute of the best resource for their leisure hours, is calculated to lead its victim into evil company and vicious amusements: so that the heart becomes doubly injured; negatively for want of those instructions which devotional reading would have supplied, and positively by the substitution of exceptionable sentiments in their place. It would be next to impossible to teach either the infant or the adult poor the principles of religion in an adequate and satisfactory manner, without employing the faculty of reading as a subsidiary instrument for effecting the purpose. In the present day in particular, it is of peculiar importance, not only on account of the

want of church-room already mentioned, but from the too general disuse of parochial visiting and catechizing; for which omission however, the clergy (at least in large parishes) are not always the parties most to blame, especially as the vast increase of population, the insubordinate spirit of the age, and a variety of modern innovations, have thrown difficulties in their way which were unknown to their predecessors.

The power of reading being then so important for the promotion of religion and church principles, it is a subject of great moment to extend it to every cottage in the land. It is not enough that the children of the poor be taught; the adult population also must be stimulated to make themselves masters of this not difficult acquirement*. We cannot indeed hope for so much from the instruction of adults as from the early education of youth; indeed, it would be quite visionary to expect, on a large scale, ma

* The writer remembers once hearing a very aged woman, who had learned to read only during a few months, and who was induced to do so by her attention having been turned to the importance of religion, read the xxiiid Psalm with a propriety, energy, and pathos, which he hopes never to forget. A variety of very interesting facts might be related on this subject. In several societies for teaching the adult poor to read, some dozen pairs of spectacles appear among the items of disbursement. There is a similar item to be found in the charitable expenses of the truly primitive Bishop Wilson.

terially to re-model the habits of those who have advanced beyond the age of maturity. Something, however, may doubtless be achieved even in this quarter; and more perhaps than at first sight appears probable; at all events, sufficient to justify the experiment and to compensate for the labour and expense of its execution.

That most cogent argument for supplying the poor with unexceptionable materials for reading, which arises from the state of modern society, and the recent efforts to infect them with licentious, seditious, and infidel opinions, might be very forcibly dilated upon; but the simple mention of it will appear amply sufficient to every person who feels interested in the welfare of his country or the altars of his God. Not to acknowledge the force of this argument, would evidence a lamentable degree of indifference to every serious consideration. Various efforts have been made by individuals and public bodies to counteract the evil in question; among others, the Society for the Suppression of Vice has laudably exerted itself to curtail the crime by punishing the offenders; while the venerable Society for promoting Christian Knowledge has endeavoured to supply antidotes to the poison. It is true that the friends of religion and morals have nothing to offer to the poor so stimu

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lating as the effusions of a licentious and infidel press; nor can the lovers of good order, and the advocates for just authority, condescend to gratify a perverted taste with the invectives and scur rility of political libellers*. An unprincipled des magogue, who consults only how he may best vend his productions, will not scruple to flatter the worst prejudices of the multitude, to alarm them by fictitious horrors, to irritate them by overcharged and mendacious statements, to gratify envious passions by exaggerated anecdotes of private life, and false and invidious suggestions respecting public characters. He has also the advantage of a constantly new and interesting topic in the events of the passing hour, which he may torture and twist till they are made to goad the unsuspecting reader almost to madness. He may affect pity for the

* While this Essay is passing through the press, the author laments to say that a flagrant exception to this remark offers itself in the shape of a Sunday Journal professedly on the side of good order and government! If scurrility is bad any where, it is doubly bad in those who ought to know better. If a breach of the Sabbath by means of a radical newspaper is bad, it is still worse in a journal purporting to be devoted to loyalty; not only because the example is more powerful, and the precedent more dangerous, but because without the blessing of God nothing can prosper, and that blessing cannot be expected to attend any measure founded on a violation of his laws. Non tali auxilio, &c.

sufferings of the poor, in order to work upon their passions, and to induce them to wreak their vengeance upon whomsoever he may see fit to point out as the authors of their calamities, or, as he would style it, their wrongs. In these and many other respects the real friend of the poor will find it impossible to compete with the manufacturers of blasphemy and sedition. The doctrines of our holy faith, and the duties of the Christian character, will appear tame indeed to those who have been accustomed to writings like these. The meek virtues of the Gospel find no natural advocate among the passions of the human heart: they do not appeal to passing events, which are always more interesting to the great body of mankind than abstract verities; nor can they be flavoured with the pungent condiment of envy and detraction. Yet, still, we must not despair: God has after all a witness in the human soul; there is also a considerable degree of native and acquired good sense in the lower orders in Great Britain, which, though in many instances perverted by the sophistry of deluders, is never extinct. Besides, the rich may practically shew the poor who are their real friends, by proofs which are usually thought more convincing than good advice, or donations of religious tracts ;proofs which the retailers of sedition and blas