The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1815-09-06 00:00:00

veep
oroidiele they speak of the he-
nevolesice and charity of the persons ont
and pray for them, and if they get any
well t. If not, perhaps they wadi afterwards liner
ittsprecattuirs a .amst them, whicii I have frivolo ly
(ward. My (impel iii West-street has livci: vi ry
Is beset by people of this description ; they
have Found out that I have service oci Tuesdav
log, and I have generally three, one at the (oiter
of Little St. Martin's-lane, another sear Mot,.
•montir-street (they do not interfere with each other)
and one very near the chapel door, a very [nisi-table
object ; he is continually removed by the unto wile
keeps the chapel ; he asks him to come in, and
that generally removes him : these sometimes How,
from one elation to another, uccording to circum-
stances and aceordiug to opportiiiiities. There are
others who are continually begging from louse
to house; they go through a great number of
streets in the day, occasionally taking a Indlnil ur n
bunch of inatelivs, am' pretelid to be picking of,
boors lii the streets; and early in the
kneeling down to arras, tormenting the rock ahtu
she is busy in the kitchen, until they can get some
broken victuals as they call it, then they go away- for
a little while ; but they actually sell this vicluala
that I have found iota. In St. Giles's there are
some eating-I ses for the very poorest mendicants,
where they go 'mid sell this victuals they get trout
different houses. I have attended on frequent
examinations, and traciog particular characters
among those people. There was a woman a little
time ago I saw sith four children ; I was strati;
with their appearance, the eldest did not appear to
be above nine yearn of age; she found me not, and
knocked at any door; I told her I had made a
resolution not to give any thing at the door,
that if she wished to communicate her distress
to me she must come to St. Cieliwoi's el Lenin,
where I was to be found at certain loans, and dole
I could hear any thing she had to *ay, but she
must not come to my house, for I found I 'oust
keep a porter if I went on the system of speaking
to every body there. I frequently saw her sitting
at the steps at the corner of Cecil-street ; and
the sharpest coldest weather ; she had a led cloi.k
with which she covered herself and her children,
just like a hen and chickens; they seemed to lie
starved, they looked very pale and meagre, awl tot:
woniaii very ill. I told her, that if she would semi
her children to inj Sunday School, she might ; she
thrill lodged in Cleitielit's-hire, ilk my parish. as she
staid. I told her that there were ttttt e very bene.
volent ladies that would perhaps get a little cloth-
lag them, amid give them education, and (lila-
lify them for sortie useful station in lif, that tloy
might not grow up to begging. ; she said, she should
Inc, very glad if she could get a little bit of learning'
for her children, for it was a great grief she had
mow for herself. She brought her children to the
Sunday school very clean; I told her to have tlwin
properly washed, end their hair cut. The ladies
subscribed, and got them some stuff gowns ;rod
tippets, and clothed them as far as was necessary ;
they came for six or seven Sundays, and then they
disappeared, and the woman disappeared. I was
very much disappointed, having relieved the woman
very frequently with money, knowing she was nut
of work ; she principally got her money, as she
said, by working at ann' clothing; but I found
out afterwards that she was a gin-drinker. Every
Saturday I visit a friend at Pimlico, and geoerally
cause home ahmit • o'clock ; coming house one.
Saturday evening, I had refused to give this wo-
man slily thing on the Sunday before as I was going
to chapel, 1 said to her, I rather suspect you do
not lay your money out properly ; if you go in a
place of worship, it will be much more proper till the
Sabbath-day, and she said, she would. As
came along, thinking of this woman and hi r chil-
dren, and almost sorry that I had given her any
thing, in the Strand, at a gin-shop oil the right
hand bide of the way, tienr to Craves-street,
saw these three children squatting down ,Jose un-
der the window of a gin shop (I k atw their •tuft'
gowns again), they were eating pea-slitlls. I took
lily elation opposite the house, thinking I should
most probably see the leonine; and presently she
came out with imotlier woman, whom I knew alai
whom 1 had relieved before, and they were as drunk
as any two women could lie. I then begin) to think.:
it-was a thousand pities but I could get the childit
out of her hands, for that she would rum them,.
anti conk! do them no good ; but I found it roil us
Bible. I found she was au Irish woman, mid thatl.
eie hail been very troub:asoine in St. Giles's, Mont 4
they relieve a great molly of them ; she would not
port with her children, else said she would sooner
starve.