fore procured him and others so much solid and substantial comfort, will barely supply what are deemed the necessary ornaments and amusements of life. Meantime his servants are tainted with the vices of the town; and it is well if the morals even of his wife and daughters are preserved uninjured; their health certainly is not. Then the sea is ordered; a paltry lodging at Brighton succeeds a paltry lodging in London; his mansion-house is deserted in summer as well as winter; habits of indolence are acquired, perhaps habits of a worse kind, if worse can be; and he (who was the support and ornament of a considerable district, the fond parent, the indulgent landlord, the hospitable neighbour, the liberal benefactor, the respected magistrate) sinks into useless insignificance and contempt."

And thus the writer proceeds in a manner of which the above extracts may afford a fair specimen, "piercing through

“The body of the country, city, court,"

addressing himself to all in every station, to members of parliament, to the members of the executive government, to the bishops and clergy, to lawyers, merchants, and others engaged in worldly business, and to those of the lower class, as it is called, pointing out the blessings which this country has enjoyed, and the peculiar duties attached to every station. The appeal to the clergy is made with a becoming solemnity:

"In the name, therefore, of that God who made us, of that Saviour who died to redeem us, and of that Blessed Spirit who is ever ready to assist our weak but sincere en

deavours, I call on every bishop, priest, and deacon, who has devoted himself to the service of God in the Church of England, to lay aside every avocation, and instantly to exert his utmost powers in the preservation of our holy religion; so shall he save many souls from death, and hide a multitude of sins."

The practical good sense for which the writer was so distinguished, appears every where; as in his observations on the duty of our legislators:

"Let every member of parliament, whether peer or commoner, reflect on the awful trust committed to his care, and attend diligently to the execution of it. Not merely when a political dispute arises, but constantly and uniformly. Let no act receive its fiat without a strict scrutiny into its merits. Let them revise, curtail, and methodise the whole code of statute law; whose bulk and confusion is such, that I fear we may almost say

mole ruit suâ!

"If but a small part of that time and those talents which are wasted in long-winded harangues and bitter disputations, were thus applied, our laws would acquire clearness, precision, and vigour. The number, the length, and the expence of our suits, would no more be the reproach of our nation. Imagination itself can hardly embrace the variety and the magnitude of the national benefits which would be thereby produced."

The title of this pamphlet caught the eyes of many, at a time when every eye was open, and every ear received with eagerness the sound of reform; -the plain blunt manner of the writer

captivated a great number; the sound good sense which it contained, and the good principles which it inculcated, independently of all party views, were pleasing to all who were worthy of being pleased; and prodigious numbers of it were sold in a short time. It was, of course, abused by the Morning Chronicle and other jacobinical writers, whose language and conjectures respecting the author were highly amusing. But it received from the respectable part of the community, and from the public in general, an attention which had been wholly unexpected. The Archbishop of Canterbury was so much pleased with it, that Mr. Bowdler prefixed to some subsequent editions a dedication to his Grace. Bishop Porteus, to whom many persons attributed the pamphlet, spoke of it in high terms; and in the latter part of his life proposed to Mr. Bowdler to republish it. It was printed in Dublin, with such alterations as adapted it to the state of that country, and was translated into Italian. Mr. Bowdler soon printed an abridgement of it, with a view to bring it more generally into circulation among the lower orders; and he writes thus to a friend on the subject:

66

Hayes, 3d Feb. 1798. "I don't wonder that you are pleased with my book, or that you knew it to be mine: and these give me more sincere pleasure than the applauses of the great and the learned. You and I learned at the feet of the same Gamaliel; and your agreeing to my doctrines convinces

me that we have not forgot his precepts. God grant we never may ! They are the only armour of proof, and never was such more needful. Not that I am in despair; on the contrary, the rapid sale of my pamphlet convinces me that there are more people than I who like sound principles; as also, that people are really alarmed. I am persuaded that those have praised that tract, who, but a very few years since, would have laughed it to scorn as cant and nonsense. Whether we shall so far repent and amend as to prevent God's judgments from falling upon this land, God only knows; but it is a great and heartfelt comfort to me to have endeavoured to promote such effects. I am still very busy; for as it can only do good in proportion as it is known, I am trying to promote the circulation of it (and still more of the abridgement) in the distant counties and manufacturing towns. With this view, I am offering printers in the provinces leave to print editions of the abridgement on their own account; the most effectual way to make them push it, if they accept the offer; I doubt the difficulty will be to persuade them that they will sell so many as experience convinces me they will (1000 of the octavo were sold in the last seven days, and 1500 of the abridgement in the last four days of January.) The octavo has now my name and a dedication (by permission) to the Archbishop of Canterbury. I wished much to avoid putting my name (not that I am ashamed of the principles of the pamphlet, but I wish to remain unseen and unknown); but when both the Archbishop and Bishop of London said my name would do good, I did not feel justified in refusing to do it."

To other circumstances which occasioned alarm at this distressing period, was added a fear of a

scarcity of food. The necessaries of life rose in the beginning of 1795 to an extraordinary price, and the poor were in real and unusual distress. This is a subject which is likely, whenever it occurs, to produce serious apprehension, since, as Mr. Bowdler observed, "dearth is the parent of commotions, and the cry among the common people was reported to be, that they might as well be killed as starved." He, therefore, proposed a subscription in his parish for furnishing a proper quantity of wheat or bread to the poor at a regular and reasonable price; and by applying to his friends, and inserting paragraphs in the newspapers, he endeavoured to promote similar subscriptions in all parts of England. Feeling much anxiety upon this subject, he addressed a letter also to a friend, who held an office under government, requesting that it might be shown to His Majesty's ministers, which was complied with, and it received the marked attention of Mr. Pitt, Lord Grenville, and the late Lord Liverpool. The subject was renewed at the beginning of 1800, and again at the close of that year, when two successive bad harvests had occasioned a scarcity of corn, and its necessary consequence, a very high price in wheat, and bread, and, indeed, in all the articles of food. In this year Mr. Bowdler had a correspondence with his neighbour and friend, the late Lord Auckland, to whom he communicated some statements which were deemed worthy of attentive consideration.