from that charitable fund erected by industry.  No part of the family is neglected:  he that cannot find bread for himself, finds a ready supply; he that can, ought to do so.  By cultivating the young suckers of infancy, we prudently establish the ensuing generation, which will, in the commercial walk, abundantly repay the expence:  temporary affliction of every kind also merits pity; even those distresses which arise from folly ought not to be neglected:  the parish hath done well to many a man, who would not do well to himself; if imprudence cannot be banished out of the world, companion ought not:  he that cannot direct himself, must be under the direction of another.—­If the parish supported none but the prudent, she would have but few to support.  The last stage of human life demands, as well as the first, the help of the family.  The care of infancy arises from an expectation of a return; that of old age from benefits already received.  Though a man may have passed through life without growing rich, he may, by his labour, have contributed to make others so; though he could not pursue the road to affluence himself, he may have been the means of directing others to find it.

[Footnote 6:  Burke.]

The number of persons depending upon this weekly charity in Birmingham were, April 14, 1781, about 5240.

Whether the mode of distributing the bounty of the community, is agreeable to the intentions of legislature, or the ideas of humanity, is a doubt.  For in some parishes the unfortunate paupers have the additional misery of being sold to a mercenary wretch to starve upon twelve pence a head.  It is matter of surprise that the magistrate should wink at this cruelty; but it is matter of pleasure, that no accusation comes within the verge of my historical remarks, for the wretched of Birmingham are not made more so by ill treatment, but meet with a kindness acceptable to distress.  One would think that situation could not be despicable, which is often wished for, and often sought, that of becoming one of the poor of Birmingham.

We cannot be conversant in parochial business, without observing a littleness predominant in most parishes, by using every finesse to relieve themselves of paupers, and throwing them upon others.  Thus the oppressed, like the child between two fathers, is supported by neither.

There is also an enormity, which, though agreeable to law, can never be justified by the rules of equity—­That a man should spend the principal part of his life in a parish, add wealth to it by his labour, form connexions in it, bring up a family which shall all belong to it, but having never gained a settlement himself, shall, in old age be removed by an order, to perish among strangers.  In 1768, a small property fell into my hands, situated in a neighbouring village; I found the tenant had entered upon the premises at the age of twenty-two; that he had resided upon them, with poverty and a fair character, during the long