until November of the past year. Throughout that year, I, with those who have seen me, have been calculating on my early death. This state of things not only disqualified me for the management of a weekly publication, but for all regular attention to business; added to which, Mrs. Carlile has passed through a more lengthy illness and a more alarming state of health than mine, from which she is not yet fully recovered. For my own part, since the beginning of November, I have fully recovered, and was never in better bodily or mental condition than at present.

All these untoward circumstances occurred at a moment when my whole energy was requisite to carry me well through the very expensive establishment for which I had contracted at midsummer 1826: so that, in addition to pain of body, I had to suffer pain of mind; the one aggravating the other, and every thing connected with my private circumstances running on cross purposes. Up to the last few weeks, I have despaired of supporting this establishment, not that a change would have affected my means of carrying on business; but the house having been twice offered for sale and no bidding made for it, my health fully established, my prospects consequently brightening, my persevering resolution as strong as ever, I am induced to try to keep my ground; and for this purpose, I not only have to solicit forbearance and a little more indulgence on the part of those friends to whom I have made myself a debtor, by money borrowed or credit for goods taken; but I have also to solicit the assistance of all and of each, to extend the circulation of this my new publication. I have also come to another resolution. Having suffered much mental anguish, and in some instances perhaps a loss of credit, by making myself a debtor to enter upon this establishment, and meeting with such untoward circumstances at the onset, I have determined, for the future, to confine my speculations to my own means, and never again to trespass by credit upon the means of any other person. I have been paying dearly, throughout the past year, for the want of this precaution, in the shape of thirty shillings to the pound, and in a great sacrifice of goods to make up that sort of payment. Therefore, should it so happen, that this publication be not immediately profitable, or do not at once cover expences, it will not be carried on as a speculation upon credit. It is rare, that any periodical publication pays its expences at starting; but I have a hope and assurance that this will. To start well, it ought to begin with the sale of a thousand weekly, and then to rise above that. I wait to see the effect of my extended tour through Lancashire, and shall speak at the end of a month on the prospects of the publication. By every lover of a free press, this publication should be encouraged, for while it will studiously avoid every kind of personality that can be considered an outrage upon good feeling, it

will maintain every principle of discussion that a free press should maintain; it will maintain every political or social right or privilege that is beneficial to man in society; it will endeavour to set an example, as to what a free press should be. The Editor may err as to his conclusions; but he will never err designedly, and for the purpose of getting a sale by truckling to prejudices. He will never say that which he does not mean, nor mean that which he does not say. To use the language of one of the greatest and most useful men that has lived, he will strive to be "bold enough to be honest, and honest enough to be bold." He will neither prevaricate when certain; nor conceal that which he knows to be useful.

Of the state of the property of the Joint-Stock Book Company, I will give an account in the course of a fortnight, after I can take stock and make up the accompts. It has been affected by the state of my own affairs this year. The new subscriptions have been but £35. The sale of the books has not been great, and consequently, though we have begun an edition of "Mirabaud's System of Nature," it has not been finished. The interest money of the subscriptions will be paid immediately, to the end of 1827: and an effort will be made to rally its progress in the present year.

I have two deaths to mention, which will be interesting to my old readers. The first is the death of Shebago, a favourite correspondent with many. He died in Greenwich Hospital, in a very calm manner, and evinced in dying, the fortitude of his mind and the soundness of the principles which he had adopted. His name was Thomas Hood. He had been at sea from his youth to his becoming a pensioner in Greenwich Hospital. I have heard that his prospects, when young, were good, and that he once filled the post of a master of a man-of-war; but I have not particulars enough to speak with accuracy. I have heard him say, that a man-of-war or a sea-faring life in any way was a hell to him, as he could never brook the tyranny of the officers. He was incessantly getting himself into trouble while at sea, by writing sketches of character, and satirical verses upon his officers, and frequently got himself put into irons. His ever active and powerful mind induced incessant writing on subjects, as they were presented to him in all parts of the world; and had he been fortunate enough to have found encouragement for his literary and poetical talent, in his youth, he would have made a bright He had genius, but it was of the wild and turbulent kind; and such as while it induces its owner to defy the customs and habits of his fellows, leaves him constantly poor and oppressed. Such was Shebago !

man.

The second death is that of Mr. Morrison, a surgeon, of Chelsea, who has bequeathed me an annuity of fifty pounds a-year. I never saw this gentleman but once, and then but for a few

minutes, without knowing his name or address. He called on me in September, 1826, and solicited a private interview. He was then in a bad state of health and spake with some difficulty. His words were few: he said, "I have come to tell you, Mr. Carlile, that I have been attentive to your conduct since the time of your trial, that I am very much pleased with it, and that, in consideration of what you have gone through, I have made a provision for your family in my will." Having thanked him, he added:" I shall not now give you my name and address; but I have some manuscripts which I wish you to see and to publish, and I will see you again." He did not see me again, nor did I see his manuscripts; for I afterwards learnt, that, on returning home, he did not leave the house again. Various reports reached me in the early part of last year, as to what this gentleman had done for me in his will. Some good-natured friends were kind enough to set me a traveling in a coach and six, upon the strength of it. Others made me residuary legatee of Mr. Morrison's property, and I was to come at once and take up my residence upon the estate at Chelsea; telling me also, it was singular, that Sir Henry Wilson, who had an adjoining estate, had acquired it in a similar way. Another, deeper in the secret, found that I was only to have two hundred pounds a-year. At last, it came down to the reality of fifty pounds a-year, which, by-the-bye, has not been yet realised. However, this affair has been one of the pleasing off-sets to the many pains that I have endured through the past year.

Mr. Morrison's will has some novelty in it, beyond my annuity. After many fruitless attempts to see it, I found it had gotten to Doctors' Commons toward the end of May, and there I obtained a copy and published it. It is a document worthy of being preserved in a volume, and for that purpose I copy it here. The first mention of it in the newspapers was in "The Englishman," and" Bell's Life in London," in a very proper manner; but other papers gave it a twist, and set a number of old men and women to cry out:-" Oh! what a villain! a fellow at Chelsea has cut off his wife with a shilling, and given Carlile fifty pounds a year.” It will be seen that Mrs. M. is well provided for.

THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF THOS. MORRISON, SURGEON,

Of Vale End, Chelsea, who died the 10th of February, 1827. Extracted from the Registry of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.

THE CHURCH strongly inculcates the propriety and necessity of the last act of a man's life being an act of religion; I deem the last act of an

individual's life, employed in the disposal of his earthly estate, to be an act equally solemn and sacred; in order to do which, with the justice and equity that becomes a rational being, it is necessary that he should enter upon the task in perfect mind and in perfect charity with all mankind. Deeply impressed with these feelings, in the presence of that almighty incomprehensible Being, which philosophy and religion teach us to believe forms the incomprehensible world, and the still more incomprehensible animal-man: and conscious of being of sound mind, memory, and understanding, according to my most conscientious judgment of moral and religious duty, ripened by the experience of age, I, Thomas Morrison, of Vale Grove, in the parish of Saint Luke, Chelsea, in the county of Middlesex, do, after the most mature and solemn deliberation, declare this to be my last will and testament :

Ist. I give and bequeath to my wife, Sarah Morrison, as she is already amply provided for without my assistance, One Shilling.

2d. I give and bequeath to George Latimer, One Pound sterling per week, for the term of his natural life, to be paid weekly or monthly; but at no greater interval, as my Executors shall think fit."

3rd. I give and bequeath to Charles Mine, of Place Bourbon, Paris, the sum of Twenty-five Pounds per annum, for the term of his natural life, in quarterly payments; and this I do in testimony of my high esteem for excellent conduct and correct morals in a youth, and in gratitude for his worthy though vain endeavour to reform an abandoned character.

4th. I give and bequeath to Elizabeth Morrison, relict of my deceased brother, William Morrison, the annual sum of Forty Pounds, in quarterly payments, for and during the term of her natural life.

5th. I give and bequeath to Thomas Ludford Bellamy, Teacher of Music, his present wife and two daughters jointly, the annual sum of Twenty-five Pounds, in quarterly payments, for and during the term of their natural lives.

6th. I give and bequeath to John Houldon, of Bridge Row, Chelsea Bridge, and his wife, or to the survivor of them, for their natural lives, Twenty-five Pounds per annum, in quarterly payments.

7th. I give and bequeath to Richard Carlile, of Fleet Street, London, Bookseller, his wife and present family, or the survivor of them, the annual sum of Fifty Pounds, by quarterly payments, for the term of their natural lives, as an approving testimony to the character of correct morals, given of the said Carlile upon his late trial, holding, as I sincerely do, that such a character is of infinitely more utility to man, and consequently more creditable, than the profession of any creed whatsoever, since all religions have hitherto rather tended to debase than to improve good morals; and also in testimony of my abhorrence of persecution for opinion, so contrary to the tolerant spirit of a free Constitution.

8th. I give and bequeath to John Wilford, who is at present the tenant of the garden-ground in the Vale, Chelsea, held of me, the annual sum of Twenty Pounds, for the term of his natural life, in quarterly payments.

9th. I give and bequeath the sum of Fifty Pounds to the Literary Fund, and would have bequeathed more; but am happy to find that most excellent institution is flourishing.

A codicil explains, that "The bequest to the Bellamy's is given, in consideration of the loss he sustained in taking certain premises of me, which turned out to him an unfortunate speculation, as, at the time, the state of my affairs did not enable me to relinquish my right, so as to relieve him."

T. M.

10th. And, finally, I GIVE AND BEQUEATH TO THE CHURCH, Pagan, JEWISH, CHRISTIAN, AND MAHOMETAN, MY ANATHEMA, FOR THE HOR

RIBLE MURDERS, cruelTIES, AND CRIMES, COMMITTED THEREBY IN ALL

AGES, UNDER THE COLOUR OF RELIGION. And if this ANATHEMA against the abuses of religion should raise the spleen of a selfish Hierarchy, and impel them to refuse my mouldering carcase a cemetery in the usual way, I WILL, that my Executors buy the fee-simple of a rod of earth, (no matter where) therein to deposit the same, AND THERE MAY THE STANDARD OF INFIDELITY, AS IT IS CONTEMPTUOUSLY CALLED, THAT IS, THE STANDARD OF TRUTH, BENEVOLENCE, VIRTUE, AND PHILOSOPHY, BE RAISED TO THE FINAL EXTIRPATION OF BIGOTRY AND SUPERSTITION.

And I hereby appoint Henry Brougham, Esquire, M. P. and James Evans, Esquire, Keeper of the Records of the Admiralty, Executors of this my will; and to each of whom I bequeath the sum of Fifty Pounds, for the trouble they may experience in the execution thereof; and though to the former gentleman I am a perfect stranger to every thing but his public character, I am persuaded, that, as the bequests of the same are chiefly of a public nature, and consistent with his grand object, the amelioration of the condition of man in society, he will not refuse to lend his assistance in the development of my ideas, should there be particularly any thing that appears ambiguous in law or otherwise, and even to make such alterations as may to him and my other Executor appear necessary, in order perfectly to secure the property to the best, most economical, and effectual uses of the Will.

Lest the liberal opinions expressed in this Will should operate in any way to the disadvantage of the said James Evans, in the minds of certain Creedists, I hereby declare, that I have great reason to think this my said Executor to be a firm believer in the Christian faith, and certainly no philosopher. The character of my other Executor stands upon an eminence so much above the pitiable prejudices of bigotry and superstition, and the malevolent and detestable malice of hypocrisy, that any apology for him, should he be kind enough to accept the trust herein reposed, would be superfluous.

And I will, that my Executors, at a convenient period after my decease, dispose of my said estate, in land, houses, &c., by public auction, and that the proceeds thereof, together with all other monies, be lodged in the Bank of England, or upon other good and sufficient security, and that the interest thereof be appropriated to the above uses; and whatever balance of interest remains unemployed from these uses, and also the said annuities themselves, as they fall into the estate upon the death of the parties interested therein, I will that the same be further applied in the grant of other annuities for life, of not less than Twenty Pounds per annum, to decayed housekeepers of this parish and aged and infirm servants of the same, who shall, during their servitude, have remained seven years at the least in one situation; and that the creed or faith of such persons be no bar to the claim, provided the moral character be unexceptionable. And in order to secure to the said annuitants the full benefit of these bequests, I will, that they shall not be permitted to transfer their interest therein to any other person or persons whatsoever, under penalty of forfeiture on the part of the buyer or seller, as my Executors may deem proper.

I will, that my ground-rents, being a certain and secure property, remain in the hands of my Executors in trust, and that such a proportion thereof may be annually placed out to interest, as may be sufficient to form a fund, which may be sufficient, at the expiration of the leases, No. 1.-Vol. 1.