The Express.
London, England, 1867-04-26 00:00:00

HAYMARKET.

THIS Ertintwo. PgititterlON. Mr. Kendal a Min Burke.—
AS YOU LIKE IT. Ahem Howe, Compton, Marren, Chippen-
dale. nogera : Mra licottetiktdo.n.--and HIS FIRST
cnAm PAGN Messrs. Campton and Marren Miss M. Wright

LYCEUM.

• Tin. Even o, BAMBUZZLINO. Mr. Price and Mtsa
Kate Wallop.—Till DUKE'S MOTTO. Mr. Yachter, Mews.
Emery. Widdicornb. de. ; Mime Illawortby, Grattan, and Car-
lotta Leelerai. —A Grand Land. M. &pinata a 11dIb. Sophie.

TRH ETlernid. RWEETTI-EARTFAND MITER. Mr. Tel-
ford —PN t; NI A LION. oft, THI STATUE PAIR. Mews. Morse,
Um* de Mewl Ames A. Swatthorongh. RaynNun, Harland,
Johnstoot, Ilolt, S Ntrrton„—And THY. FRENCH EXHIBITION.

HOLBORN.
THIS Ermine, MY TURN NILLT. Mr. Bohner*: Lhasa
Foote and Lenner.—And FLYING SCUD. Mesta Neville, Bat-
men. Blake, Ventre, to. .• Masdaste F. Josephs, C. lisundars,
Bade /wit Addeo, Lentos, Remand, to.

Taw EVIMIN4I. TILE LIFE ;TONAL. Messrs. Reynolds,
Drummond, Hone. Atc. ; Niw Jane Coveney.—CHEßßY AND
FAIR STAR. Messrs. Birowood, Leslie, Elton, stn. ; lias R.
Edwin and Mrs. S. Lane.—And THE DREAM OF AILEEN.

RION WATER AT LONDON DEMON.
TM DAY —Morning, Mt. NAB AlNreooa, 06, taa
To-Nomow—Morning, 7d 1512 Afttesoca. 7d 4tlra.

LONDON, FRIDAY, APRIL 26.

NEARLY a century and a half ago an old gen-
tleman, named TANCRED, whose family had long
enjoyed a manorial estate at Whixley, in the
West Riding, being without children, resolved that
rather than let the property go to his four un-
married sisters, and be broken up, ho would turn
it into a charity. Accordingly, "in consideration
" of the affection ho bore to his Manor House in
" Whixley," and being desirous that his estate
there " should never be diminished by a distri-
" bution among heirs female," he conveyed his
manor, manor house, and sundry messuages
and lands to the use of trustees for the pay-
ment out of the rates and profits of annual
pensions of 50/. to twelve students in divinity,
physic, and law, at Cambridge and Lin-
coln's Inn. A further part of his scheme
was the establishment in the old Manor-house at
Whixley of a hospital for twelve decayed and
necessitous gentlemen, clergymen, or commissioned
officers, who must be natives of Great Britain, not
under fifty years of age, and members of the Church
of England. These persons were to be lodged and
boarded in the old house, and receive besides a
money payment of 201. per annum. He further
directed that 10/. per annum should be paid to
the Master of Christ's College, Cambridge, and
5/. to each of thirteen Fellows there. The deeds
came before the Court of Chancery upon the
death of the testator, when Lord HENLEY, in
pronouncing a decree, observed that TAN-
ERED seemed to have " cast off all natural
" affection," and expressed himself reluctant to
establish a disposition made in such a state of mind.
Thu intention of the old man was, nevertheless,
respected by the court, and a private act of par-
liament incorporated the governors and trustees
of TANCREDN charities. The estate thus settled
now produces • gross income of 3,2511., its value
having been greatly improved by an enclo-
sure. Of this sum, the masters and fellows
of Christ's College get 751., and the fellows
and scholars of Caine, 88/. per annum ;
twelve pensioners, 201. each ; and twelve
students, 501. each. The administrative ex-
penses of the charity have to be met, and the
Hospital, as the house at Whixley is called, has to
be repaired, and the establishment expenses paid,
after which the surplus is equally divisible among
the pensioners and students.

Mr. F. 0. MARTIN, one of the Inspectors of
Charities, last year made a thorough investigation
of the affairs of the TANCRLD Charities, and his
report, which has been laid before Parliament, is
a very instructive document, which should be con-
sulted by anyone who may be thinking of settling
schemes of benevolence to take effect after his
death. We shall notice here only the Whitley Hos-
pital, as the central point of the TANCRED Chari-
ties, and the institution on which their author built
his hopes of grateful remembrance by posterity.
Whixley Hall, about three miles from York, is a
substantial brick house, entered by a paved hall
eight and twenty feet square. The drawing-room,
of thesame size as the hall, and on the ground floor, is
wainscotted, and adorned with portraits of the
founder's family. It is little used, and the fire is
seldom lighted. The chapel is fitted up with stalls
for the pensioners, and benches for the household.
On the right of the altar is a sarcophagus contain-
ing the remains of the founder, but as it is raised
slightly above the ground, and there is no bodom
to it, the coffin can be reached from beneath.
There is no provision for warming the chapel,
which in winter is very cold and unfit for old
people, and smells from the drains are frequently
perceptible, not to mention the venerable founder.
The first floor is reached by a staircase, from the
walls of which the paper is peeling with damp.
The bed rooms of the mansion have windows
which do not fit close. There is a smell from a
water closet which is perceptible over the greater
part of the house. Such is the home of the Tar-
earn pensioners.

The inmates were nine at the time of the in-
spection, for the charity is little sought after.
Two of them had been country gentlemen, and
one of them in his day a master of foxhounds, two
were clergymen, one was a physician, and more
than one had been a magistrate. Most of them
had heard of the Hospital by mere accident. The
only two who expressed themselves satisfied
with their treatment and condition were—one of
them blind, and the other confined to his room
by infirmity. Most of the others were more or
less discontented, and one gentleman de-
clared that the place was " hell upon
" earth." If this seems a strong expression,
it should be remembered what the establishment
is and must be. It is an asylum to which twelve
elderly men who have failed in life bring their dis-
appointments andchagrins, and are expected to live
happy in each other's company, cut off from the
world, and without any occupation or amusement.
A more dismal club could hardly be invented.

There is no conveyance to be bad to the railway
station, and there are no persons in the neigh-
bourhood to take notice of the pensioners. The
moral and social condition of the Hospital during
the lust sixty years, as shown by Mr. Wattles
extracts from the minute books, is such as might
have been expected. Archdeacon HALE, who
visited the place in 1843, writes : " The society
" is torn to pieces by pettyquarrela and jealousies."
In 1850 we find the Warden and Steward giving
in a report that " the hospital at Whirley re-
" mains in a very unsatisfactory condition, and
" we have too much reason to fear gross immo-
" milt), still prevails among some of the pen-
" sioners. We suspect that two or three women
" of very equivocal character are in the habit of
" visiting the private rooms of Messrs. R—,
" F—, D—, and W—, where they ire-
" (ineptly remain locked up for hours ; and,
" among other excesses, indulge in ardent spirits,
" brought thither by the servants of the establish-
" ment, by order of those pensioness. A minor
" fact, in connection with this, is, that almost
" every day at dinner Messrs. R— and F—
" help themselves to at least twice as much as
" they can eat, and then carry what is
" left on their plates into their rooms,
"as we believe, for those women." In
1857 we find Dr. CARTMELL, Master of Christ's
College, called to investigate a complaint of one of
the pensioners, that another had intentionally
fired a gun at him, and finding that the charge
had its origin in malice. This gentleman ob-
served that a childish disposition to quarrel
about trifles ran through the hospital, and
that jealousy and ill-will divided the whole
body ; but he had also the penetration to perceive
that this was the natural result of their situation,
men originally deficient in some qualities essential
to well-doing, and soured by failure, being here
forced into intercourse with men similarly deficient
and distempered, but different in their habits and
feelings, and this without any occupation or any
pursuit, and with no one to control violence, soften
ill-humour, and draw their attention to worthier
objects.
It might, perhaps, have been expected that the
presence of the vicar, who, as chaplain, has a
stipend, aad undertakes to read prayers in the
hospital twice a day, would exercise a beneficial
influence, but Dr. CARTMELL remarks that he was
the most discontented of the whole establishment.

Mr. MARTIN does not shrink from declaring his
opinion as to the course which ought to be taken
with respect to this establishment, of which he
declares that it has tended to degrade and de-
moralise the neighbourhood. In his opinion,
" nothing short of the entire dissolution of the
" hospital will put an end to the evils which have
"so long disgraced the foundation." The disease
is organic and incurable, and the attempt to make
twelve disappointed aged gentlemen live in har-
mony while caged up in one house is futile and
absurd. The first thing he would do is decently to
bury old TANCRED% remains, and the next to sell his
land without scruple ; holding, as ho does, with
Lord HENLEY, that the views of the founder,
with respect to his house and estate, are not
entitled to any respect. The estate would sell to
great advantage. By a sale a considerable in-
crease of income and a large reduction of expen-
diture would be at once effected, and an end put
to complaints on the score of supposed extrava-
gance and mismanagement. At the same time the
scope of the charity would be extended and
raised, and the patronage of the Governors en-
hanced in value by enabling them to bestow on
worthy objects, personally known to them, a
provision which could be accepted without misery
and degradation. Assuming that the estate would
fetch 40 years' purchase, and the income
to be 5,0001. a year, and allowing for the salary
and expenses of the clerk per annum 1501., for
the travelling expenses of the governors from
Cambridge to London 501., for a reserve 300/.-
5001.—there would remain for charity 4,5001.,
which would permit the governors to pay 100/. a
year to 45 persons, whether students or pen-
sioners. The advantages of this plan are, that
the pensioners, instead of being a burden to
themselves and others, might become valuable to
their friends, and would be able to live in great
comfort and in the enjoyment of domestic sym-
pathies, and some one would probably occupy the
hospital who would be of use in the parish, in-
stead of a nuisance. This is the common-sense
view of the case, and it may therefore be hoped
that it will be adopted.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)