offenders, and the formation of a temporary refuge for them, imploring pecuniary aid for its support.

National School Society.-Wednesday, June 5, the Annual Meeting of the Subscribers to the National Society for the Education of the Poor in the principles of the Established Church, on the System of Dr. Bell, was held at the Central School-House, Baldwin's Gardens, Gray's Inn-Lane. There were present the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Bishops of London, Salisbury, Chester, Worcester, Exeter, and Llandaff, Lords Calthorp and Kenyon, Sir Jas. Langham, Mr. Wilberforce, and many other distinguished philanthropists. The Archbishop of Canterbury took the chair. The Rev. Dr. Walmsley, the Honorary Secretary of the Society, read the Report of the Committee for the last year; by which it appeared that 82 new schools had been formed on the National Plan, in different parts of the kingdom, in the last year, whilst 13 schools had been discontinued; that the total number of schools was 1790; and also that an increase of upwards of 12,000 had taken place in the last year, in the number of children educated in the different schools, the total number being upwards of 250,000. The Society had in the course of the year given assistance to 39 schools, by grants of money, amounting to £3425. The total receipts of the Society for the year amounted to £3634, and their funded property to £3600. The Report being read, the Archbishop of Canterbury addressed the Meeting in support of the Society, concluding his speech with the broad assertion-that the education of the people of this country belonged by law, and of right, to the Parochial Clergy.

Society for the Encouragement of Industry.-On Wednesday, June 5, a Public Meeting of "the Provisional Committee for Encouragement of Industry, and Reduction of Poor's Rates," was held at the King's Head Tavern, Poultry, Thomas Wright, Esq. in the chair. The gentlemen who attended the meeting, took a view of the very distressed state of the country, from a want of employment amongst the labouring classes. Resolutions were proposed and carried, that Petitions should be presented to both Houses of Parliament, praying that small portions of land should be allotted to the labouring cottagers, as a probable means of lessening the burden of the poor's rates, which are now calculated at nearly ten millions annually.

Western Dispensary.-Wednesday evening, June 5, the Anniversary Festival of this Institution was held at the Crown and Anchor Tavern in the Strand; Colonel Elliot in the Chair. The Report stated, that in the last year 2554 patients have been admitted into the Institution, 2240 have been cured and relieved, 23 discharged, 63 have died, and there remained under cure on the 31st of December, 1821, 228 patients; 758 of the above were attended at their own residences. From the commencement of the Charity in 1789, 53,604 patients have been admitted.

Friendly Female Society.-On Friday, June 7, a Meeting of this Society was held at Stationers' Hall, when, it is reckoned, not less than 600 Ladies were present, and 30 of the Aged Widows, pensioners of the Society. Seven were elected Pensioners in the first class: in the other class there was no vacancy. Twenty were chosen as inmates of the Asylum now building for their reception, and expected to be completed in the course of the summer.

Society for the Relief of Aged and Infirm Protestant Dissenting Ministers.-Tuesday, June 11, a Meeting of this Society took place at

the King's Head Tavern, Poultry, James Gibson, Esq. in the chair. From the Report, it appeared that the persons relieved were Ministers of the Presbyterian, Independent, and Baptist denominations, in England and Wales, who, having been settled pastors of congregations, had resigned their office in consequence of age and infirmities. The history of the applicants presented a picture of no ordinary degree of calamity; some of them, who had been engaged in the work of the ministry for 40 years, and had large families, were dependent for support on a stipend of a few pounds. Some conversation took place upon the necessity of making vigorous exertions to increase the funds of the Society, and to secure a more extended patronage. Refuge for the Destitute.-On Thursday, July 25, a General Court of the Governors of this extensive and useful Institution was held at the City of London Tavern ; Edward Foster, Esq. the treasurer, in the chair. It is well known to be the object of this benevolent Society, to provide a place of Refuge for persons discharged from prisons or the hulks; for criminal or deserted females; and for others, who, though willing to work, are, from loss of character, often unable to procure an honest maintenance. To many such unhappy persons an asylum has been afforded, work has been found for them, and, on conducting themselves well, situations suitable to their respective abilities have been provided. The Report stated, that 289 persons had been under the protection of the Committee, in the various branches of the Institution, during the last six months; and that of these, 140 had been provided for, by sending them to sea; by placing them under the care of their relatives or friends; by apprenticing them out to respectable trades; or by providing for them suitable situations. It enumerated many cases of persons, of both sexes, who have been recommended as servants and apprentices, who conduct themselves in a most exemplary and creditable manner. The Committee conceive it indeed to be one of the most favourable testimonials that can be adduced in behalf of the Institution, that its objects are in succession readily received into respectable families. It seems to be usual, especially at the Female Establishment, to hold an annual Festival, to which all the young women who have received the benefits of the Institution, and have been restored to virtuous society, are invited. This entertainment was held in the beginning of the month, when thirty-six young women visited the Refuge, the whole of whom acknowledged that asylum as the sole instrument of their present well-being, and of their future expectations. The whole of them were known to be living in honest and industrious habits; and as a proof of their gratitude for benefits received, they made a subscription among themselves upon the occasion, and presented to the treasurer the sum of £10. 5s. An interesting account was also given of the benefits conferred on many of the other sex, some of whom have been taught useful trades, and placed out in the world, wherein they are now earning an honest subsistence; and several have been sent into foreign countries; to the West Indies, to the Cape of Good Hope, to Algoa Bay, and to Van Diemen's Land: concerning the whole of whom, a very favourable account was read. In reviewing the general result of their endeavours to carry into effect the salutary provisions of the Institution, the Committee congratulated the General Court upon its success. They still, however, lamented a deficiency of pecuniary resources; appealing to an humane and discerning public, for that

generous aid, which may enable them-if not to open wider the path of restoration to the penitent criminal-to save them at least from the mortification of contracting the present compass of their efforts.The Committee, &c. of this Institution have presented a memorial to Mr. Peel, the Home Secretary of State, representing its public utility-the patronage hitherto afforded it by Government-and soliciting the aid of £5000 (clear of deductions) to enable them to carry on the objects of the Institution upon an enlarged scale, during the present year. This memorial Mr. Peel transmitted to the Lords of the Treasury with his own recommendation in its favour. Christian Charity.—Income for the last year of some of the Principal Societies.

BENJAMIN HAWES, Esq.-Jan. 10. Suddenly, being struck with a fit while on his usual walk, three miles from Worthing, in the 80th year of his age, Benjamin Hawes, Esq. youngest brother of Dr. William awes, the benevolent founder of the Royal Humane Society. His birth-place was Islington; and after receiving a suitable education under Mr. John Shield, a well-known and much respected schoolmaster of his day, he was put to business, in which, at a proper age, he engaged on his own account, as an indigo-merchant, in Thamesstreet, where, by great skill, unremitted assiduity, and unsullied integrity, he acquired an ample fortune, with which he retired from trade, and passed his latter years at Worthing, where his loss will long be felt in no ordinary degree, even by many who, whilst he lived, did not know that he was their benefactor. The strongly characteristic feature of his mind was, an ardent desire to relieve, as much as in him lay, the distresses of his fellow-creatures, without taking to himself the merit of doing so. After he retired from business, he lived very abstemiously, making it his constant study to bestow the wealth with which Providence had blessed him, so as not only to communicate good to all around him, but, if possible, to conceal the hand by which it was bestowed. In his own immediate neighbour

hood, the latter object could be effected but with difficulty, and there at least, his charity, which often amounted to munificence, could not always escape detection; but whenever it was practicable, his benefactions were anonymous, seeming even ingenious in devising means of doing good by stealth, and he literally "blush'd to find it fame." In many instances he made considerable transfers of stock to meritorious individuals struggling with adversity, who were never informed whilst he lived of the source whence they were so opportunely assisted in time of need. With the same shrinking modesty he became an anonymous contributor to many public institutions for the alleviation of pain and suffering, the instruction of the ignorant, and the reformation of the depraved. Naturally attached for nearly half a century to an Institution, of which his brother was the principal founder, his very liberal annual donation was regularly contributed, under the anonymous designation of "A Life Governor in 1774."

But the object which chiefly interested his philanthropic feelings through life, was the abolition of the Slave Trade. To promote this highly important measure of national humanity, he, through many different channels, anonymously contributed large sums. Nay, so indignant was he at the treaties which, at the close of the late war, tolerated that abominable traffic, that in a letter which he had sketched to Mr. Wilberforce, (whether he ever sent it, we know not) he offered to sacrifice several thousand pounds a year, if that sum could insure the adoption of means to compel all the European powers to put an end to the Slave Trade. Even in this noble conception of a mind, powerfully alive to all the sufferings of suffering humanity, ostentation had no part, as he stipulated for the absolute concealment of his name, and only identified himself in the letter as the individual who, between the years 1780 and 1790, had enclosed to the treasurer of the Society for abolishing this inhuman traffic, five Exchequer Bills, and who about the year 1810 had transmitted an India Bond to the secretary of the African Institution:

Con

Of the private life of a man, thus estimable for the benefits which in his seclusion he rendered to the public, taking that term in the widest extent of its application to the whole brotherhood of man, not many particulars have reached us, but they are in perfect harmony with the benevolent tenor of his life. Habitually an early riser, for he usually quitted his bed at four o'clock in winter as well as summer, and sometimes even before that hour, one of his great delights was to watch the unfolding glories of the rising sun. sidering also exercise in the open air to be essentially conducive to health, by a prudent arrangement of his time, even when engaged in an extensive business, he generally contrived to walk on an average about twenty miles a day; and this practice he continued at Worthing to the very afternoon that terminated his mortal existence. Though he sedulously avoided company, as inconsistent with his retired habits, he well knew what was going on in the busy world, for he regularly had the newspapers from the libraries as soon as they were brought by the postman, and long before they were called for by any other person. His dress was always neat, but so plain that it might be mistaken for that of a Quaker; of which religious body, though never one of its members, (like the philanthropic Howard, whom in many points of character he strikingly resembled,) he was a great admirer, particularly of the devout and solemn silence

pervading their meetings for religious worship, at which he was an occasional attendant. His religious faith was however that of a Protestant Dissenter, of Calvinistic sentiments in doctrine, and those of the Independents as to church discipline; and having for many years diligently made the Holy Scriptures his study, he was from principle and conviction a firm believer in the great and important doctrines inculcated by the inspired writings. Those doctrines habitually regulated his actions and his feelings; but so far was their operation from all sectarian or party prejudice, that he embraced, in the wide circle of his Christian beneficence, his fellowcreatures of every religious persuasion, as well as every species and variety of suffering. Of this, no better or more convincing proof could be afforded than the following list of benefactions of one thousand pounds, 3 per cent. stock, each, to twenty-four benevolent Societies, connected with different religious bodies, and formed for the relief of different varieties of the ills which flesh is heir to.

The Royal Humane Society, Refuge for the Destituté, Society for the Relief of Foreigners in Distress, Philanthropic Society, St. Luke's Hospital, The Magdalen, The Asylum, School for the Indigent Blind, Society for the Relief of Persons confined for Small Debts, Hospital for the Jews, City of London Truss Society, General Penitentiary; London Hibernian Society, British and Foreign Bible Society, Religious Tract Society, London Missionary Society; Quakers' Poor House, Fund for the Relief of Methodist Preachers, and those formed also for similar purposes amongst the Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, Roman Catholics, and Quakers.

These liberal donations, apportioned as they are in the true spirit of Christian benevolence, are not however to take effect until after the death of a near and dear relative, a daughter of his eldest brother, who for many years had devoted herself to the promotion of his health and comfort; and for whom therefore he very properly made a liberal provision in his will. He had no children, but numerous relatives, amongst whom he distributed, by will, the bulk of his ample fortune, with strict attention to their respective claims upon his regard; nor is there one of them who has not reason to remember him with gratitude.

His remains were interred on Sunday the 20th of January, in the church of St. Magnus, London-bridge, attended by several of his near relations, and some of his intimate friends, unto the house appointed for all the living,

PROVINCIAL AND MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE.

August 26, 1821. At Dhurwar, in the East Indies, Mr. col yok, a Surgeon in the Establishment, and Statistical Reporter to Government. Some of his Reports, no less remarkable, it is said, for the utility and interest of the information they contain, than for the elcgance with which they are written, will appear in the third volume of The Transactions of the Bombay Literary Society," now in the press.