The National Register.
London, England, 1818-03-23 00:00:00

MARCH (23

POOR LAWS.

The following is the purport of the chief cialtses of
the Bill on this subject now before the House of Com-
mons.

Every lt:u•ish where the rates amount to loom. to
have a Selea Vestry of iallabitants, not less than 5 nor
more than 12, for the management of the. roor, and
the distributicn of the rates Overseers to act under
the direction of the Select Vestry.
Justice.; empowered to .order relief in certain eases,
a limited time.

One justice may ortkr temporary relief,' in ewes- of
tic;:citt nemssity.
' Mittutc:;•of sclect vestries Pha le.pnris of their pro-
cee•tiings to be laid before the inhabitants in general

vestry.
Power to appoint non-resident overseers, with torisent
of tl:e persons so appointed.
Assistant overseer may be appointed.
. Children whose parents.are unable to support them,
may be provided fur by the parishes, in places to be ap-
pointed.
• Parish houses:may be used for the reception of chil-
dren.

Rules may be framed for their maangemonL
"'Auks may be confirmed by jtistice:;.
No other relief to be ordered for cl.ildren, for whom
the parish shall offer to provide.
Jm'tices empowered- to visit houses provided for the
reception of children.
Parishes to hire aril let Ott Lnr.d..fnr-thc employment
of the penc --( See our:tirA article.)
. . .

Power to rate owners of certain boust-s-instead of the
occupiers.
(.nods of occupiers may be distrained for rates to the
:ri,lount of the rent actually due. _

Occupiers paying rates empowered to deduct' the
amount out of their rent.

Reeeiversin certain casesoniay be rated as owners.
Persons rated as owners ar.:l may vote
in vestries. _

No owner, Tact Lein; an occupier, to be rated, in
places where the right Of voting.for Members to serve
in Parliament depends on the rating.
Justices (nit of sessions empowered to order relief by
parents, &c.
Justices in special sessions may assess relatives of.the
poor, tier their relief
Pensions thr service in the navy-or the arrny,•may be
ass;k,ned.il certain .cak:er.
The pemion . assignc4,• to be paid to Churchwar-
dens, &c.
Power to -remove chargaldis poor; born in Scotland,
Ireland, &c. not being vagrants.
Scotch and Irish vagrants may be remoyed without
being whipped or imprisoned.

ON TIIE ERROR OF COMPUTATION OF TIII3 PRE-
SENT EASTER.—UntiI tke year 1757, the Julian Calen-
dar had been .egually adopted throughout the British
dominions, but bad a. length by patient investigation,
barn eiscovered to be erroneous, and as the error was
4::erew4ing, and would in process of time occasion the
several Equimixes.and Solstices to fall at very different
times in the civil year, to what they formerly did, it
was determined afA enacted by Parliamcnt, that the
Calendar should be ref4rnied in that ytar. The rule
by this new Calendar it, " that Easter day is always
the first Sunday after the .fall moon, which happens
dptat or next after the 21st day of March, and if the
tall moon happens upon.a Sunday, Easter du is the
C:lunday after."
Now, bt referritny to all our Almanacs far the pr:sent
year, Easter day is . entered for the :22c1 inst. tend the
fall moon is also et:Walr the same day, at V in the
Afternoon, ao that the: Bard celebration of Easter day.
which i, of MUM by the morning Krvice chiefly-, will
lave. a,:tually passed be the tidi moon, and Good
.Friday- will therefore not be observed in Passion wed: !
Thus it seems, that we arc in error as to our observa-
tion of Faster on th-:.2:2(1 :Nara, and that next Sun-
day, the ".:Lith, sliould have been the day fixed by the
Calentlaratitl.again, if the _darkness mak. Crucifixion
was an eclipso, t.lat could only have beta at a full moon;
now by fixing. Good Friday and Easter in the presi.nt
year bethre this full moon, there days are very errone-
ously appointed, though: perhaps, it is, in a, religieuS
Niew, of but secondary importance. A. H.
The, lhosiers and Erame-work. Knitters of Notting-
ham, Leicester, and that neighbourhood, to the num-
ber of 10,000, arc now petitioning Parliament, in con-
sequence of the distress they exlierienec. This has been
brought upon them by the I.mblites. A great part of
..th.e machinery Lis been destroycd, and the ira,,ter-ma-
natileturcrs have red ti r safety to ether pa7ts. Nay,
many rcsliectalde fannilies, who spent much money
arming, tile shol:keepers, have. witlalrawn tc> mare tran-
quil districts. conscincacci.of t*N: atrocious con-
s Piracies are - now visiting the working classes. The
Petition was referred to the Committee of the House of
Cenimons on the boor Laws.—Courier.
Among other sicvitios in preparation at Drury Lane
rheatre, is a new Tragedy, by a Mr. C:nalcs Knight,
of Windsor, in IYinieil Kcaa is. to play the pr.lclal
character.

THE -.NATIONAL RVG-ISTFR.

.114UNDY-THCRSDA E

Thursday being what is generally called Maundy-
Thursday, was observed with the usual ceremony of
distributing the Royal bounty. The custom is known
to have. been established in this country by Edward 111.
in the year 1.363, when that haughty by
actually
washed the feet of the poer.pecple who were relieved,
in imitation of the humility of our Saviour ; and it is
on record, that Cardinal ‘i'olsey afterwards performed
the sante ceremony in the city ef York. This obser-
vance is still kept up io Portugal and other Catholic
-countries. : The name of Mauudy-Thursday is derives
from the hand-bas Lets, which were called (from the
Saxon) Mounds, in which the different Christian poten-
°tate:: distributed provisions to the poor. The number
of persons relieved corresponds with the age of the me-
narele-und were thereibre F. 0 of each sex. The distribu-
tion, as tisoal, took place at Whitehall-ehnpel ; but on
accoliat of an extra staircase being heist from the ante-
chapel to the Roped closet, for the Duchess of York, a
temporary erection was made on the outside in Privy-
,gardens, where accommodation WAs provided for. 80
men and 80 women, and about 50 spectators, when 1
cods, t: salmons, 18 red herrings, 18 pickled herrings,
with 4 loaves, were -Disco to each person in a wooden
bowl. After the fish tied hread had been distributed,
potmds and e half of beef mid G.-. /oaf were given to
each person.
In the afternoon. the ceremonies and additional P.oyal
bounties were resumed in the Chapel.
They commenced by a procession ente'ing the chapel,
of eight Yeoman of the Guard, and a Yeontali Usher,
one ei the Yeomen carrying on his head a large gold
dish, in w hich were 160 red kid bags, which ought to
have contained t:!Os. in gold, bet lied.a note each,
and also white kid
!begs, tied to the.others with white
leather strings, about two feet long; in which were dd.
3d. and 4d. in silver, amounting to 6s, 8d being
as many pence ns the King is years.old : the dish con-
taining these numerous bags was placed on a table,
which was covered with a white • cloth, in. front -
the altar. The remainder of the proccsripn consisted
of the Rev. Mr. Holmes, the Sub-Dean of the Chapel
Royal ; the Rev. Dr.. Page, the Seh-Almoner ; Mr.
Hanby, the Lord High Almoner's Secretary ; Mr.
Jones,: the Groom of the Alnumry. Two boys and
taro girls were selected from St. Margaret's National
School, for their good behaviour, by the Sub-Almoner,
and with the Gentlemen were decorated with cambric-
muslin
scarfs and sashes, carrying bouquets of flowers,
and preccded.by a Gentleman Verger .of. the. Chapel
Royal.
'After the• first lesson, these .Gentlmen distri-
buted to the 80 mere sboex and %Irking's. After
which, the Gentlemen of the Choir sung an appropri-
ate piece.
After this, cloth for a coat, and linen for a shirt,
were distributed in a similar manner. An appropriate
piece was ngain sung.
_ _ _

The red baba, conViirairg,,the 11. ,notes and the small
silver coinage, were di4tributed in a similar manner.
The ceremony of disaiirLtion to the women wus pre-
cisely similar.
The anthem, " Who is this that cornett' from Edom ?"
was then sung, and an appropriate thanksgiving, and
prayer were then read. The King's health was after-
wards drank in claret out of wooden cups, by the Gen-
tlemen who performed the service and composed the
procession.