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common, I will ftate the mode which we have adopted, as it may poffibly be of ufe to others who are interefted in a fimilar bufinefs.

By one of the claufes in our bill, it is enacted, that the commiffioners are required to divide, fet out, and allot, the commons and waste lands in the parish of unto and among all and every the proprietors of meffuages, farms, tenements, lands, &c. &c. within the parish, in fuch fhares and proportions as in the judgment of the commiffioners fhall be a juft and reasonable compenfation, share, and allotment, in proportion to the real yearly value of the faid meffuages, farms, tenements, lands, &c.; except to fuch owners and proprietors, whofe property fhall be above the annual value of five pounds and under the annual value of ten pounds, whofe allotments the commiffioners fhall increase in fuch proportion as they fhall think just and reasonable, not exceeding the proportion in value which hall be allotted to any other proprietor whofe property fhall amount to the annual value of ten pounds.

This last restriction is of obvious neceffity, as the proprietor of lands or tenements of the value of ten or twelve pounds a year would naturally be difcontented and feel himself used with particular injustice, if the commiffioners were to award a lefs valuable allotment for his fhare, than for the fhare of his neighbour whofe annual property might not be of more than five, fix, or feven pounds value. The fpirit of this claufe, therefore, appears to be first, that every proprietor whofe property is above the annual value of five pounds and under the annual value of ten, fhall have an extra allotment; and fecondly, that the value in this extra allotment fhall, as nearly as poffible, be inverfely proportionate to the property to which it is attached; the commiffioners, confequently, taking care that in no inftance the allotment to the fmaller property fhall exceed in value the allotment to the larger.

It must have been remarked before this time, that nothing has been faid concerning the proprietors, the annual value of whole property is under five pounds, and it will naturally be enquired, what provifion is fecured for thefe? When the fubject of inclofure was first agitated, the fmall proprietors univerfally oppofed it with no little acrimony and earneftnefs: it was a very defirable thing to fecure the approbation of all parties; this, however, was impoffible, and to foften the rancour

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of their oppofition was all that could be expected. It happened that one of the moft valuable portions of our common was completely detached from the reft; it was fuggefted that if this common were left uninclofed and allotted as a pafture-ground under certain neceffary regulations, for occupiers not exceeding five pounds a year, that every objection against the inclofure bill from this quarter, would in a great measure be obviated. It was therefore enacted, in the spirit of conciliation, that the commiffioners fhould be authorised and required to fet out fuch a proportionable part of this detached portion of the common, as fhould in their judgment be equal in value to double the allotments which owners and occupiers of lands and tenements, not exceeding five pounds per annum, would be entitled to under the intended inclosure; and that the lands thus allotted, fhould be vefted in the lord of the manor for the time being, the rector of the parish, the church-wardens and overfeers of the poor, and their refpective fucceffors for ever, in trust and for the ufe of all fuch poor inhabitants at prefent refiding, or that may hereafter refide in any of the cottages now ftanding or hereafter to be built in lieu of them, as fhall not occupy in tenements, or in lands and tenements jointly, (and not in lands only) above the value of five pounds per annum.

As this claufe, however, would exclude every proprietor, the annual value of whofe property did not exceed five pounds, from having any portion of the common enclofed for him, and as it was conceived that fome few of these small proprietors might prefer fome portion for their private occupation, a claufe was added, by which any owners or proprietors of this defcription who fhould at the first or fecond meeting of the commiffioners give notice in writing of their defire of having an allotment in lieu of this right of pafture, are entitled to a part of the remainder of the commons and wafte-grounds in the parish, proportionable with the owners of property of a greater annual value than five pounds. It having also been conceived, that fome few proprietors of this latter defcription, that is to fay, of proprietors, the annual value of whofe property exceeds five pounds, but does not exceed ten, might be defirous of relinquifhing their allotments, and adding them to the land fet out as common pafture, a further claufe was enacted, allowing them to relinquish fuch allotinent, after having delivered in at the first or second

meeting

meeting of the commiffioners, a written notice of their request, and authorizing and directing the commiffioners to add to the common pafture, for their use, and fubject to the fame regulation as the reft, fo much land as the allotment of the perfon or perfons thus giving notice would have amounted to, in cafe he, fhe, or they, had not relinquished it.

It will not excite much furprife, perhaps, that no one of the proprietors, of between five and ten pounds a year, was defirous of relinquishing his or her portion of the enclosure for an allotment on the pasture ground: it would obviously have been a lofing game, fuch perfon not being entitled to an inch more land upon the common than he would have allotted to him within a fence of his own; and he and his heirs being for ever reftricted, (without a new act of parliament) from breaking up the land, or using it otherwife than as a rated common. It may, however, excite fome surprise, that among the many proprietors, under five pounds a year, almoft all of whom very clamouroutly oppofed the enclofure; every one, with the exception of two individuals, gave notice of his defire to have a private allotment in preference to an allotment on the pasture-ground; although by this preference they ruft have relinquithed a valuable portion of land; for they would have had a double portion for their allotment on the pafture-ground, and, according to the Ipirit of the act, it appears that, although all indeed will have an extra portion, not one tan have a double portion.

Such are the provifions which we have made to conciliate the poor landlords: it is much to be wished that fomething alfo could have been done for their ftill poorer tenants. The former, I think, might unquestionably be benefited by the enclosure; but I am forry to be of opinion that the latter cannot for they will now be no longer enabled to keep the geefe or turkeys, which have hitherto contributed to pay their houfe-rent. But it will be faid, as the cottages are intrinfically of lefs value now than they were before the enclosure of the common, the landlords mult lower their rent. Who is to make them? What business have we with another man's property? In short, fhould we in their circumftances, do fo ourselves? Cottages are fcarce; moft lamentably fcarce; and, from the prevalence of a deteftable and unfeeling policy, are likely to be ftill more fo. But labourers must have I was going to lay a fhelter for

their heads, but as all of them have not what I call a fhelter for their heads, this, it feems, is an unneceffary luxury; they muft, however, have fome hole or other, in which to creep with their wives and children of a night; and fo long as landlords are aware of this neceffity, it is not very probable that they will, many of them, lower their rents, merely because the common is deducted from the cottage. But how was this evil to be avoided? Whatever advantage might have been held out to the cottager, muft evidently have fallen on his landlord; for he would probably have felt much lefs reluctance to raife, than to lower, his rent. Suppofe any portion of land had been vefted in trustees, the profits of which should be fcrupulously appropriated to the poor tenants of the parish, it needs no ghoft to tell us," that the tenant must pay his landlord the precife value which the former derives from inhabiting the cottage of the latter.

I know of but one fcheme which would, in any degree, have compenfated the temant for the lofs of his common; and that is to have fet apart a certain portion of land, two or three acres, and to have built thereon a number of folid, convenient, and airy, cottages. This land, and thefe cottages might have been in the hands of the fame trustees, in whofe hands is vested the common pafture of those two forlorn and folitary individuals who declined the acceptance of a private allotment. The rents of thefe lands and cottages would, of courfe, have belonged to the parish at large, on whom the expence of building and repairs would have fallen. This plan did not occur when the bill was first framed; and, if it had occurred, might, poffibly, have been rejected. I am of opinion, however, that it would have been ultimately, if not immediately, profitable: and, on this account, the parish, by making themselves landlords, would have checked the general exorbitance of rent. It would have been their interest to have let thefe cottages low: to fay nothing of the better chance they would have of a regular payment, by letting them low, they would have affifted the tenant in obtaining his livelihood, and by this means prevent the neceffity, perhaps, of his calling on them for relief. But it is obvious, that if the parifh let their houfes low, every other landlord must do the fame, or he would never get a tenant till the cottages belonging to the parish were all occupied; and, if every other landlord were to do the fame, it is ob

vious, alfo, that there would be less frequent occafion for parochial relief than there is now. At prefent the parish is often called

more

on to pay rents, and these rents are, with few exceptions, very high; if the parifh had built cottages, I think they would never have had occafion to pay these rents: at any rate, as the rents must necessarily have been lower, they would never have had occafion to pay fo much. It is a common complaint, that cottages yield an inadequate intereft: perhaps a ftill common complaint is, that the trouble of collecting thirty or forty fhillings a year from one, and fifty or fixty fhillings from another, and so on, is more than the money is worth. Make it a parochial concern, and thefe objections, which deter country gentlemen from building cottages, in the first place, and which, in the fecond place, fometimes prompt them, most unfortunately, to fuffer thofe which are built, to fall in ruins, immediately vanish. If there be any lofs attached to cottages, let the parish at large, who live by the laborious industry of their inhabitants, share that mighty lofs in common! If there be any trouble in collecting fcattered rents of two, three, or four pounds each, let the parish alfo bear in common that trouble-that heavy and oppreffive trouble! at all events, let the poor be made comfortable if poffible; let them know the luxury of domestic neatness; but they never can know it, without domeftic accommodation or convenience. A cheerful habitation will impart fome portion of its cheerfulness to the man who inhabits it: it will lighten his labour in the day, to know that he can enjoy himself at night over a clean hearth and a lively fire: on the other hand, when a man looks forward to a fort of dungeon, to a cracked, half-thatched, half-lighted hovel, as the miserable repofitory for his

tired limbs, his mind, in this cafe as in

the other, is affimilated to his habitation -it becomes gloomy, comfortless, and Yours, &c. X.

wretched *.

fince I

* 1 remember to have read fome very admirable obfervations on this fubject, in the eighth volume of the Bath Society's papers on agriculture: it is months ago many read them, and not having the volume be fore me, I cannot refer to the page. I was much struck with them at the time, and with very much to call the public attention to them. I think they form part of an elaborate and ingenious introduction to the volume which introduction I also think was written by the fecretary, whose name has elcaped my memory, MONTHLY Mag. No. XLV.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

S the troubles which now agitate,

A and the events which are daily taking place in the eastern part of our hemifphere, feem peculiarly calculated to direct the attention of the christian philofopher toward that long defpifed, neglected, and unhappy people, the Jews; permit me, through the medium of your widely circulated, and excellent mifcellany, to folicit from fome one of your intelligent correfpondents, an elucidation of the fol lowing queries, relative to that nation. It would confer an additional obligation upon me, if any learned member of that body would favour me with a reply. I wish to be informed:

I.

Is the divifion of the Jews into twelve tribes, a distinction ftill kept up by that nation; if fo, has each family a knowledge of the particular tribe to which it belongs-and is the office of the priefthood still a distinct appendage to that of Levi?

2. As the old teftament pofitively afferts, and I believe the Jews themselves acknowledge, that the Chrift was to defcend from the ftock of David, is there any family or families now in existence, acknowledged by their nation, or conidered by themselves, as the lineal defcendants of that monarch?

3. What is their prevailing opinion relative to the fate of the ark, and do they give any credit to the account of it contained in the first feven verfes of the fecond chapter of the 2 Macabees? Birmingham, April 14, 1799.

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Yours, &c.

W. H. P.

For the Monthly Magazine. NEGLECTED BIOGRAPHY.

NUMBER II.

LIFE OF HENRY BURTON, DIVINE. THE HE account of this noted character given in the "General Biographical Dictionary," is very incorrect and meagre ; he may, therefore, with great propriety, be introduced into this collection, more efpecially as the following particulars concerning him are novel and entertaining.

Henry Burton was born at Birdfall, in Yorkshire, in 1578, and was educated at took his degrees in arts, but afterwards St. John's College, Cambridge, where he became B. D. at Oxford. The univer fity of Cambridge was then greatly infected with puritanism, and the leading divines in that way were Mr. W. Perkins and Mr. Chaderton, by whofe preaching Burtop fays he had his eyes opened."

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From Cambridge he went to be tutor to
the two fons of Lord Carey of Lepington,
afterwards Earl of Monmouth, and by
his lordship's recommendation, was made
clerk of the clofet to Prince Henry; and
continued in that post to Prince Charles,
but was discarded upon that prince's ac
ceffion to the crown. While in this fitu-
ation he entered into orders, and wrote
fome tracts againft popery, but he com-
plains bitterly of archbishop Abbot, who
had refused to licence a piece of his entitled
"The converted Jew," written against
the Jefuits. The occasion of his being
difmiffed from court was, his writing a
letter to the king, charging the bishops
Neile and Laud with the defign of intro-
ducing popery. About this time he
obtained the rectory of St. Matthew, Fri-
day-ftreet, and became very popular by
his violent fermons against the court and
the hierarchy. For thefe he was at firft
fufpended and committed to the Fleet
prifon, where he did not remain long: but
he still continued the same course, and, in
1636, he was called into the high com-
miffion court for two fermons preached on
the 5th of November, and printed the
fame year with this title, "For God and
the King."
Though this performance
was undoubtedly grofs in the extreme, yet
his fentence was difproportionate to the
offence, which was, that he fhould be
degraded from the minifterial function,
ftand in the pillory two hours, lofe
both his ears, pay a fine of 5000l. and
then be imprisoned for life in Lancaster
caftle. June 30, 1637, he fuffered the
moft ignominious part of his punishment
at Westminster, and he fays, "that all
the time he was in the pillory he thought
himself to be in heaven. For my re-
joicing" he adds, "and glorying was fo
great all the while, without intermiffion, in
the pillory, that I can no more exprefs it
than Paul could his ravishments in the
third heaven." July 28, he was con-
veyed from London to Lancaster, where
he arrived Auguft 3d, but, in November
following, he was taken from thence and
conveyed to Guernsey, where, through
bad weather, he did not arrive in lefs than
fix weeks.

Though his fentence expreffed that he fhould be carefully debarred the ufe of pen, ink, and paper, yet he found means, while in Guernfey caftle, to write an an fwer to bifhop Land's "Relation of his conference with Fiber," which was as virulent as could be expected from the complexion of the man. He likewife wrote there fome other controverfial pieces, but could not get them printed.

The following ftory he relates himself with great folemnity, and it will ferve to fhew to what a pitch of enthusiasm he was carried.

“On April 25, 1640, I fet the day apart to feek God, especially for his church, which then lay under great preffures; wherein having spent the day till 4 of the clock in the afternoone, I walked two or three turns in my chamber, and being very fad and difconfolate becaufe I had not, as at other times upon the like occafion, received an anfwer of comfort from God, and being somewhat faint with abftinence and the clofenefse of the roome, I opened that window which looks into the sea eastward to take a little ayre, the fea comming as neere the fhore on that fide as that I might from my window throw an apple into it: thus looking forth by and by there was prefented before the window a rainbow, lying flat all along upon the fea, with the two ends close to the fhore, and the bow from meward: it was a perfect and entire rainbow, but because it did not as ordinary rainbows, ftand upright, but lay flat upon the fea, it filled me with wonderment, and fo much the more, becaufe looking both upwards and downwards I faw no cloud for the rainbow to fubfift in, neither was the ayre moift, it being a dry windy day. I obferved, indeed,'(putting my head forth at the window and looking upwards) many broken little clouds driven away with the wind, but never a one large enough for fuch a rainbow; and the clouds moved apace, and paffed away, but the rainbow abode ftill for the space of half a quarter of an houre, keeping its pofture, lying flat and fteddy upon the fea; whereby it plainly appeared to be no natural and ordinary rainbow, but fupernaturall and miraculous. Mine eyes were taken up with beholding, and my mind with admiring it, till at length, whole as it was at firft, it began to withdraw itself towards the north east, towards England: I faw it move thus for the fpace of two leagues lying flat upon the fea till it vanifhed out of my fight. Hereupon I began to be amufed in myself what this fhould meane: I was perfwaded that God had fent this rainbow to me for fome fpeciall ufe that I should make of it; but I knew not nor could imagine what. I prayed againe that the Lord would be pleafed to fhew me what use to make of it. I hereupon caft my thoughts upon the first rainbow in Genefis, but that was fet in the clouds as a fign of God's covenant that he would no more deftroy the world by a flood of water.

But

But what is this rainbow to that? This 'is without a cloud and lies flat upon the fea. Well, this interpretation I made of it, that forafmuch as I had earnestly fought God for his church that day, and had not received an answer of comfort, and being fad, God thereupon (without any my feeking of a figne) prefented before me a miraculous rainbow; I took it to be fent of God as an anfwer to my prayers that day, and to be a figne to affure me that he would certainly and miraculously deliver his church which now lay floating upon the feas of affliction, ready to be fwallowed up. Upon this interpretation, I was fo fatisfied and filled with prefent comfort, being fully perfwaded of the truth thereof, that I was never fad after upon any fuch occafion; and when at any time fince I have been difconfolate for the church, I have presently reflected mine eyes upon my rainbow, and have therewith been comforted afresh, and my heart remains fully established against all doubts and fears. I fay my rainbow, as having the fole propriety in it, feeing it was feen of none but myself alone."

He remained in this prifon till November 15, 1640, when he was releafed by an order of the Houfe of Commons; and on the 22d of the fame month, he and the famous William Prynne who had been confined in the Island of Jerfey for a like offence, landed at Dartmouth, from whence they proceeded to London. The fame parliament that recalled them, declared the proceedings against them unjust, and voted them 5000l. each out of the property fequeftered from the archbishop and other lords of the high commiffion.

It is natural to fuppofe that Burton's popularity was increased after his return, and he was indeed greatly followed and admired as a preacher, but turning inde

dicted in the Revelations of St. John, who are to lie dead three days and a half: and he even challenges to himself the character of a prophet on this occafion. "Why should I here," he says, "conceale that speech I used to fome minifters at Coventry in my paffage to Lancaster caftle, who being fad at my departure, I faid unto them," Come, be not fad, for three years and a half hence we fhall meet again and be merry." And truly (abfit invidia verbo) reckoning from the 14th of June, 1637, whereon we were cenfured in the ftar chamber to perpetuall imprisonment : it was just three years and a half when we returned from exile, even in the last moneth of the three years and a half, myself being fent for the very first day of that moneth."

Speaking of the promised restoration of the witneffes, he thus boldly applies it to himself: "Here let the reader ftill remember that this treatise was written before my return from banishment, and fo towards London on that Saturday the folemnitie thereof was fo confpicuous and glorious, as it doth without any other application even naturally apply itself, as it were the moft proper fulfilling of this prophecie, if either wee confider the manner of that return or the effect it wrought in the adverfaries thereof, which cauled in them extream indignation and rage, even unto gnawing of their tongues and gnashing of their teeth; and yet feare fo poffeffed them that all their power and policy could not help." Prefixed to the narrative of his own life, is his portrait, apparently by Hollar, which, if a likeness, thews him to have been a four and forbidding character. He was buried January 7th, 1647.

J. WATKINS." To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

N the British Critic of February last,

pendent, moft of the London churches an extract is given of Mr. Canning's

were fhut against him, particularly that of Aldermanbury, at the inftance of the noted Mr. Edmund Calamy, againft whom Burton wrote a pamphlet entitled "Truth ftill Truth, though but out of

Doors." &c.

He alfo embroiled himself in a fharp controverfy with his quondam friends and fellow fufferers Prynne and Baftwick both of whom were advocates of prefby

tery.

That he was very conceited will appear from the curious extract from his own narrative" given above; but in the fame performance he goes to an extraordinary length of affurance, in making himself no less than one of the two witneffes pre

fpeech, of Dec. 11, 1798, in which that gentleman fays, that "when the town of Sion in Switzerland capitulated to the French, the women after being brutally violated, were thrown alive into the flames." This is an act fo abominably favage and unnatural, that I hope, for the honour of human nature, it never was committed by any individual of any nation. To difcover whether there are any grounds for imputing it to the French on this occafion, I have carefully read the first fix numbers of Mallet du Pan's " Mercure Britannique," in which he profeffes to give, in detail, an account of all the enormities perpetrated by the French in that

country.

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