The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1806-09-06 00:00:00

•



3LIPPItESSION OF VIM.
„alum the Semis, Quarterly Report of the Society fps
the Suppression of Vice.
•—•ol •
(Concluded from ear piper of Yesterdax4 •
By promulgating these sentiments, and by adher-
ing to this spit it, the Society for the Suppression of
Vice will aspire to recommend themselves to the
valuable part of the public, whom they hope to
convince, that their own interest and safety are
aimed at, through this Society, by the slanderous
reports of the vicious or malevolent, and by the low-
bred rislicule of their insipid satire. The anxious
desire of the Society is, that those who accord with
them in their principles, may not be corrterted,
ozainst their better judgments, into blind instru-
ments of hostility, by the artful agents of a repro-
bate cause. It cannot he too much inculcated on
the minds of the public, by the friends of this In-
stitution, that what it endeavours so effea is only
that which it is every man's social and constitutional
duty to imitate ; that it arrogates to itself no exclu-
sive authority or aaivity, being anxious that its
zeal should be as common as the atmosphere of
Britain to British subjects ; and being persuaded,
that as the number shall increase of those who exert
themselves in giving effect to the laws, by the ex-
ample of their obedience, and, the support of a spi-
rited co-operation, the honour and prosperity of the
nation mutt advance in the same proportion.
'thus far the defence of this mach-defamed I nsti-
tution has been caused on through the paper already
published, and a part of the present. It( seems now
time to suseend it until new calumnies shall be pro-
duced from ihe stock of inventive malice. It may
be terminated for the present,with impressing on the
public a due sense of the advantages ever the flux
and fugitive *attire of individual efforts, which, in a
cause like Atone is question, difficult and unpopu-
lar, is possessed by a society, wherein the fresh and
unfatigued Are constantly succeeding to the %Wiz
and desponding, to sustain the unequal warfare with
an enemy, so formidable by their clamour, their
number, and their ferocity I but yet, wherein the
successive change in the persons engaged is pewee,
ed from unsteadiness of procedure, by that standing
consistency which marks the course of every virtu-
ous endeavour. in which no interests interfege but the
interests of human s..ciety.
it has been deemed an important office of this
quarterly puhlication,to announce, from time td time,
the particular °Neal which more immediately en-
gage tie attention of the Committee. They promise
themselves principally two advantages from this
proitice. Its the first place, the ohjea so constantly
before them, of prevention rather than punishment, is .
Iltely, intorno meant to be promoted. by diffusing
the salutary fear of impending prosecution. And
secondly, the assistance of those who may be le
and disposed to aid the Society by their private
cammunications, will be collated upon a subjea
tually in hand. and therefore less liable to be laid by.
till their applicability or value may be lost or lek
caned.
In pursuance of this ohm, the public are hereby
informed, that one of the subjcas immediately he-
fore tbeCommittee, is the legal suppression of books
and prints of an obscene or profane tendency. They
are moved with an indignation towards the authors
and publishers of works of this choroaer, which ear
only br equalled by the sorrow they real for the vie.
time of their malignity ; and nothin will stop the
progress of the Society in bringing within the teach
of violins' justice, these unfeeling attacks upon hu-
man souls, hot that, of which it would he most
belions to the judicature or legislature of our coun-
tty, to affirm the possibility—a judicial sufferance
gach fatal praelices, or a legislative recognition,/
*CM among the liberties of the press.
Whew It is considered how muds of the honour
and happiness of our country has at all times been
attributable to that conservative delicacy and molly
shame, which, among well educated persons, ha's
made love tile friend of virtue, and mellowed desire
Into tenderness, is it too violert to say, that the cor-
tuptersof this source of donsis6c felicity deserve to be
thrust out from society with esectation and herrpr
Phis expression of indignant humanity will hardly ap-
peat toosevere to those who r iglal y emcee ve the leaf
of prurient and stimulating books on the minds and
habits of the young ; who consider the potence of
the temptation to which the rudiments of virtue are
exposed, when imagination and study ate leagued
with lust and libertinism, to blast, at the Very thres-
hold of manhood, the promise of early years, and
to snatch from parental solicitude its long-looked for
reward.
It is with great regret that the Committee inform
the public, that many publications are now on their
table, to which :he.e observations emphatically op-
ply. They are engaged in seleaing from among
them such as are most pro,)er to be made the sub-
jets of prosecution.
Another subject to which the immediate attention
•of the Society is awaited, is the maim of telling
by false weights and measures. A prattiee which
imposes the hardest of all taxes upon the industry of
the poor. They lose, thereby. a great portion of
the comfort earned by their !Abrm., without the con-
solation of feeling that they contribute thereby to
the support of Government. The truth is, that they
contribute, not to their country's wants. but to their
Country's dishonour. But Still to them the evil is ex-
ternal. In the molds of the vicious praftisers of theie
frauds, an habitual depravation of 'sentiment is the
consequence, which soon spreads over their whole
charaaer, and prepares the heart for every descrip-
tion of wrong and robbery. A general resolution
Of the worthy Magistrates cf this metropolis, and
other Ones, to carry into elicit the existing laws,
and to exercise the powers with which they are in-
vested, for the prevention of this eril, would proba-
bly be attended with the most 'fienacial conse-
quence: to the PubliC: and the Snelery, with great
respect, assure them, that they will be happy to be
made instrumental in promoting the correction of a
mischief so extended over the retail traffic of this
cott.itty. as in some meanse to have lost, in its
oni-
versolity, its proper stigma, but which is, neverthe-
less, so profligate in it so condemned, as
well by heathen ethics as by uristian Natty, au
odious and base in all its ape. s, that to -dern TOO-
in its vocabulary of sr ministers, has found for
it, as yet. nn mincing appedation to fritter away its
isubstan4isi villainy. •
The 9ociery deem ft proper, in the ant place, to
lay before the public a short summary .of their pro-

.. ..: ~.. . Y" -

tef..r.ngs ; which, it is hoped, will probe, that al- q
though of late their prosecutions have, for reasons
which. have since ceased to exist, been less frequent,
that: attention and perseverance have beets watchful
and unabating.
In a late statement of the Society's proceedings,
under the head of obscene books and prints, the case
of a man was adduced, who had bee:i arcostomcd to
vend that ciestiative merchandise at C.-iffershutsses,
and whose method of eluding the law WAS instanced
as ais example of the increased subtilty which has
been praised since the Society's late prosectitions.
In pursuing this traffic, it was the custom of the in-
dividual in question to exhibit at first his least excep-
tionable wares, till emboldened by gradual success,
he drew forth the arrostislrgen Ail poisoned quiver.
An application was *nnitietc) the-Chief Magistrate
of the city, from whom a warrant for his appre-
hension was obtained, bA. means of which the man
Was brought beim him, with a bag which usually
contained his stock ; on the display of which, prints
were discovered of such vile obscenity, a,s to call
forth from every person present the mast marked
expressions of abhorrence. 'there nut being any
person on the spot to whom Ire had offered them
for sale at a sufficiently recent period, the Magi-
strate committed him for three or four clays, ref us-
ing bail for hisappearance,to afford the opportunity
of obtaining, in the mean time, the is ceisary evi-
dence for grounding a final commitment; but as the
time elapsed before an accuser touldbe found, this
rll.ol?Ae,r of corruption was ;eltif.lantly dismissed.

FLOODS.

There was the most alarming and destruCtive
overflow of water in the Vale ot St. John, near
Keswick, on Thursday, the f:...ltst ult. that has been
experienced there since the memorable trater-sport,
(as it has been generally called) of the year 1749,
the circumstances of which are so well known as to
require no recital here.
'Mi., too, is very reasonably supposed to have
been occasioned by the bursting ot a cloud upon the
mountains. Abort ace o'clock in the afternoon,
the water came rushing down the gill, betaven
Fisher-place and Brattan, with such force, as to
overflow the channel of the river ' • and, in its
unbounded course, to do cenisirdeabledamage.
The principal mischief, however, was sustained
by Robert Walker, of Fisher-place, whose grounds
are nearly all covered by rubbish, washed down
from the sides of the adjoining mountains. It is to
be hoped that there are many compassionate people,
who will assist in mitigating his loss. He is retire.
rented as a sober, industrious man, with a wife and
twelve children.
It is remarkable that this awful phmnothenost
occurred within one day of fifty-mien years since
the dreadful tempest alluded te ; and that, at the
time the wide-spreading totreat was sweeping every
thing before it, down the sides of the mountain,
there was scarcely any rain at the bottom. The
scene, which was terrible in the extreme, is said to
be indescribable. In the former visitation, (17491,
it will be teMembered, a mill was washed
down. The millstone has apt been found to this
daOy.
n Ttaitiday last. the waters about Keswick rose
to a very unusual height, from the excessively heavy
rains which bad fallen the preceding night. A great
deal of damage has been done. fhe water-wear,
at Forge, is washed down, which will occasion a
stop in the cotton-works, and also in the carding
and tislling.mills. The carding-mill, at Stair, is
also washed down.
Considerable damage, it is reported, has been
done near thoughton in Furness. Conistone. and
other places in that part of the country, by the
wardsing down of bridges, etc.
The GNI latest, READ, from Newcastle, is ar-
rived at Tonningen, with damage, having been on
shore,
The Meng. Rumee, trot( Lyndon for Hambro',
is arrived at Gluckstad, with damage, havii:g been
on shire.
On Friday se'nnight the boys of Herriot's Hos-
pital, Edinburgh, were publicly examined; and it is
but justice to rate, that their appearance did much
credit to themselves, and reflefted the highest ho-
nour upon the master and other tea: hen. The es-
tent and aecu of their knowledge in Geogra-
phy, Latin, Freneb, English Grammar. and Read-
ing, were striking and' uncommon. They read and
recited with much propriety and distinE:-ers.-
Their writing was admired. both for the ease and
boldness of the current hand in general, and 19r
the beastly of a great man.), specimens which were
produced. To the feeling benevolent mind it was
most gratifying to see 1:14 fine boys, wbose ruddy
smiling countenances bespoke the kind treatment
they experience, and the comfort of their situation,
well clothed, well fed, and educated ip a style of
the highea ccellepee. What gave peculiar in-
terest f this scene, Was thii presence of a gentle-
Man whp_ received the rudiments of his education
the Hospital. This gentleman, whri has at-
tained high celebrity, and realized a considerable
fortune, and who is about to assert his claiM, as
heir of line, to the doretrapt honours of a noble
Scottish fend prowl
gation; to t
a substantial
cici•ation to
he requested
;nips to tl•
French, •

to pay the
*Fein tchiql
ed. After the

the boys
and sang
with suitable
rollowiag
as the best
couJ to T
and the
scholar.
tended thu

frtbonete
the whole

MEETiI

houlemoi
Gerog. Smtit,
teritce.,

family, is proud to acknovledge his obli-
to this verninary. He hats already given
ntial proof of his'gratitude, by a hand•oime
Ito the Hospital. Upon this occasion,
.sted leave lroM the Giiverntors to distriSute
0 the best scholars in Engli}h, Latin, and
intimating at ohs same timk: his resolution
be like attention annually sfpring hii real-
tdirlburgli.'His request' was IF eAdily grant •
'ter the several classes were irzamined, all
i &wrinkled in the chapal of the Hospital,
ig an anthem. 'rhe prizes, laccompanied
itable admonitions, were pretented to the
ig persona t—TO.Syistittro ~ALLING•II.,
est English scholar; the frst srize ; the se-
J. eurreisou4l4, as the best I citin scholar;
third to notoent Young, as the best French
sei
The senior clergyman pre t then as-
the pulpit, addlessed the boys s a very al-
te and impressive manner, an concluded
nle with prayer.
.TiNO9 Or CREDITOIFS AT OTT! MALL,
OM M,./6111AT Melt. M is
BOW, low-lira, thriirick, Louden, ue.
rei.ii . - - 1 6
im.tit, Sweetirs'4,4l.-•, London, and Fins) y-
-, City-road, 1141146:ew5, uisu.suac.tmo:ier 1 6
,