r An Extempore on feeing a Lawyers Office converted into Chandlers Shop. BLESS me! what change is here? my Friends pray top: A Lawyers Office turn'd into a Chandler's Shop! The Lord fend fuch a one through all the Nation. SYPHAX. Hiftory of England, continued. By Old Hubert. FILLED with gratitude, affection and admira tion, his subjects considered him as something. more then human. The skies resounded with acclamations, not more for the recovery of their long lost King, then from the anticipation of assured victory. Alfred seized the propitious moment and led them directly to the enemy. The Danes surprised and alarmed by an attack so unexpected, soon gave way; and after suffering considerable slaughter, were irrecoverably routed. Although Alfred possessed a mind too strong to be made the dupe of Monks, yet had he so fully imbibed the principles of christianity, that he was not disposed to treat a conquered foe with unnecessary severity; he therefore received under his protection Guthrum and his vanquished followers, on condition of their being baptized in the christian faith. He now repaired the damages which had been made by the Danes; rebuilt the cities, established a formidable navy; and formed a regular Militia through the whole Country; chusing, rather than introduce the curfe of a standing army, to put arms of peace and defence into the hands of all his subjects. The The regulations of this Prince laid the foundations for some of our best civil and judicial institutions. England he divided into Counties, the Counties into Hundreds and the Hundreds into Tythings. Ten Householders formed a Tything, Fribourg, or Decennary,, and had a Tything-man, Headbourg, or Borsholder presiding over each; The Hundred consisted of ten decennaries, or an hundred families of free-men, these were regularly assembled once in four weeks.-The superior Court was the County Court, composed of the whole of the Freeholders, who were assembled for this purpose twice a year. Twelve Freeholders and the Magistrate of the Hundreds constituted a Court of Justice, being all sworn to administer impartial justice in the causes that were brought before them.-In this institution we may discover the origin, in this Country, oftrial by Jury, that palladium of Liberty, that bulwark which protects the best Rights of Man; before these can be sucessfully attacked, the fair trial by Jury must be overthrown: and, be it remembered, that this is not to be done more effectually, than by the introduction of men into a Jury, who are packed or chofen, in consequence of their suppleness and servility, and their known disposition to favour the wishes of those in power. If it ever be in the power of an officer under the Crown so to manage this business, that he may in reality select the members of a Jury, so as to preclude the accused from the slightest chance of Justice, this precious right bequeathed to us by the great Alfred is ftolen from us, then we may cry, "We are robbed, insolently robbed of our dearest birthright, A A scholar himself, and therefore apprised of the benefits resulting from learning; Alfred promoted to the utmost of his power, the propogation of useful knowledge. The arts and sciences under his fostering hand might be said to put forth their young, but vigorous shoots. More the Parent than the Monarch, he heaped not up in his coffers Milions of Gold, extorted by grinding and oppressive taxes, but appropriated a very considerable part of his revenue to the relief of the old and infirm poor: so much had he the benefit of the poor at heart, and so little attention have his successors paid to their pressing claims, that the situation of the indigent, is, at the present moment, little better than it was so long back as eighteen hundred years. Even in these days, when every quarter of the world is ransacked, and every act exerted to supply the luxurious living of the rich, we yet behold the aged and dying poor driven from Parish to Parish, from one end of the Nation to the other; even yet the cruel law of settlement is permitted to harrass and ruin the industrious labourer.Even in this enlightened age, as it is termed, under a Monarch who has been distinguished as the patron of the pretty and polite arts, no national establishment is to be found, by which the infant poor can obtain the precious boon of being taught to read, From this circumstance, the greater part of the poor know hardly any more of their native language than is just sufficient to express their wants; the advice of any well meaning friend must be carefully adapted to their small stock of language, or the unhapy object to whom it is addressed may undergo the imputation of hardiness and obstinacy, for not attending to the benevolent remonstrance, when the fault may only rest in his inability of comprehension. Seldom Seldom does the humane and commiserative observer behold the son of poverty employed in conning the lessons of religion and morality: seldom does he see the poor and aged poring over the pages of holy writ, to comfort and support him in the remainder of his perilous, dreary, and miserable journey through the vale of life.-Unablé to read, the poor man is deprived of one grand source of amusement for his leisure and perhaps solitary hours; that is with-held from him, which would have afforded him both improvement and delight; and little chance is there of his mind becoming stored with those divine precepts which would lead him into a life of virtue, and secure to him the cheering hope of eternal happiness. Too frequently do we find the rich and fortunate, whilst indulging in all the luxuries of life, inveighing against the thoughtlessness, the extravagance, and the crimes of the poor: but reflection should teach these, that the most improvident, nay even the greatest criminal among the poor, might, with the advantages of instruction, havė excelled both in abilities and goodness of disposi tion his injurious calumniators. Had the institutions of this wise Prince been supported on the same benevolent principles on which they were first established, knowledge would have been universally diffused; ignorance and superstition would not have rendered the People of this Country the passive victims to the tyranny of many sanguinary monsters. It was not by idle pomp or by menacing proclamations that Alfred sought to gain the respect and love of his subjects, No, Reason pointed out and inclination led him to adopt a widely different means; he admitted those only to the Republic, who who were distinguished by their probity, as well as by their knowledge, and only those to the Magistracy who were chosen by the People themselves. Immediately dismissing those who were unequal to the office they had accepted, and severely punishing those who were guilty of malversations in office. The public good was the line which ever guided his conduct: by a constant regard to this, he fully secured the filial affections of his grateful subjects. It was in the reign of this truly popular Prince, that the first CONVENTION of the People was held in England. This Convention was composed of the Patria procuratores, or the Delegates of all the Counties, the limits and numbers of the Counties having been first ascertained; so that the wishes and opinion of the People was fully and freely delivered on any public matter, in the Wittenagemote or Affembly of Wife Men. Too much enlightened and too fond of his People to wish to rule a Nation of Slaves, Alfred held it as his opinion and even left it recorded in his will THAT IT WAS JUST THAT THE ENGLISH SHOULD 46 EVER REMAIN FREE AS THEIR OWN THOUGHTS." To be continued. A sure way to prevent the threatened invafion by the French. If we fight and tax on for a year or two more, The French, I dare fay will ne'er touch on our fhore, } |