The National Register.
London, England, 1808-09-11 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

THE COURT MEW WORLD OF FASHION.
• •,tish-oms—
Wednesday, at twelve o'clock, his Majesty arrived at
!be Queen's Palace, from Windsor, where hr was received
*y their Royal Highnesses the Dukes of York, Kent, and
Cumberland.
At two o'clock his Majesty held a Levee, when the fol-
lowing bad the honour of being presented to his Majesty :
The Bishop of Rochester, to kiss hands on his translation to
Bishopric of Ely; Major Campbell, Aid-de-Camp to Sir
Arthur Wellesley, in his promotion, and on his return from
Portugal; and Colossi Brown, on his return front the army in
Pontugal.
His Majesty held a Privy Council, which was attended
by the Duke ofiPortland, and the rest of the Cabinet Mi-
nisters, when Mr. Ryder, the Jndge-Advocete, laid before
his Majesty the proceedings of several Courts Martial.
The musical world, and the fashionable world, nod all the
world, have had a most harmonious squeeze at the Music Meet-
ing at Gloucester, this last week ; the sick, the well, the lame,
the lazy, et tousles matades ima,,,'enoires, whether water drink-
ers, or wine drinkers, from Bath, Cheltenham, Nl:Liven), and the
surrounding counties having been crowding. into that city, until
it has become quite a muitum in pareo, of guns eomme it Picot.
eakespeare's Jubilee was but a hardy gurdy concert, when com-
pared with this Musical Festival, where concerts, halls and
sermons formed the bizarre melange; the singers were in cower!,
the inn-keepers were in concert, and the lodging-houses were in
concert, drawing notes in rapid succession of allegretto move-
ments from their customers, whose con strepito accompaniments,
proved the musical adage " that perfect harmony cannot exist
without a discord."
The fashionables of St. Giles's, Spitalfields, and Wapping,
have had a crowded season at that emporium of annual fun and
frolic, dedicated to their patron saint, St. Bartholomew ; round-
abouts, ups-and-downs, lourdigurdies, handargans, vans, cara-
vans, and all other wind instruments, have been crowding
into Smithfield pens, as if all Creat• had been rushing to
the center; some of the royal manufactories displayed a
greater assemblage of gilded Kings and Queens, than even
St. Cloud can boast, and a witty vender of hot-spiced ginger-
bread, exhibited his superfine royal hunting nuts, fresh from
the oven, but not so hard as the Spanish nuts which Napoleon
has to crack ! Great decorum was observed by she
lionesses, and other wild beasts fried sausages. and plumb
pudding, all hot, were in their usual abundance for the Ama-
teurs; lasses :Ind their lads crowded, as usual, to the ups and
downs; Juliet mourned her absent love in the old black gown,
often-washed white handkerchief; and Pizarro, with the ino.;
pathetic ardour, invited the spectators to his standard; and
the whole merry go round went nil' with so little disturbance,
that the Piedpoudre Court had nothing but red-letter-days, much
to the credit of John Bull and his family.
BON MOT.—A fashionable party passing through a certain
country bovine!' a few days since, were so 'insufferably
in their delicate sence of smelling, that one of the Ladies was
induced to ask what filthy place i t could he "Do not abuse it,
in Lady, said :mottle), for it is a borough that returns two
Members to Parliament." " Then, replied the Lady, I ant
sere it most be a rotten borough."
Spanish brushes are now entirely excluded from the Box A -
PARTE family, their roughness having been found greatly to
hijurl the N A Ir.
A few days ago, one of those untutored sons of Erin, who
sells, nuts, dtc. through the country, happening t 4) go into a shop
in Belfast, in which a very toll gentleman was standing, the gen-
tleman, after chattering some time with the nutman for his
ware', stepped towards the door, saying., " I am long enough
here." " Och! God ble's you, my honey," says Paddy, "
you're too long any where."
An Irish Gentleman being lately asked his opinion of Bo v I-
PA I'l'es last step, replied. " Oh, and upon my %rod), my dear
hone)., he as at last put his font in it."
=sarzczzsizaisa=
POPULAR PREACHERS.
No. V.

" And he went into the Temple; and began to cast ant them
that sold therein and them that bought, saying unto them, It is
written.lfy house is the must of Pa ►V Stc.
Ths Gospel according to Luke, ch. xis. verses 45, 46,.

EW*ll

r~r,~

SEPTEMBER 11.

"THE FOUNDLING CHAPEL; AND Ifs •Allms-rLits.
ENGLAND has long been distinguished as the country
of benevolence. Every where has piety, or philanthropy,
erected temples to humanity ; and there is no species of
mortal suffering, for which this nation does not oiler either
remedy or relief. We have built something like palaces
for the repose of those veterans who survive the battles of
the state, and founded noble establishments for the chil-
dren of fathers who have fallen iu its cause ; we have pare.
OMI receptacles for indigence, and alms-houses for 11.7 e ;
we have schools of instruction even for the blind, anir, of
reformation fur the reprobate ; we proclaim a refuge for
the destitute ; we have reared an asylum for female or-
phans, and a magdalen for female penitentis;o:td.dwoeohaalvi'ce.,
or profess to have, a foundling—for deserted illegitimate...
Our munificence has been most happily eniligie ouri gradation
viate every description of human calamity ; l
be-
neficence is most honourably extendeel to every ral
of human depravity. This is our praise. It must there-
fore excite surprise, that so many charitable and provident
institutions are inadequate to the purposes for which they
were specifically designed ; and it ought to actuate our
indignation—if any one of these establishments is found to
have essentially degenerated from the original principle of
its application. if only interest and affluence are suffered
to shelter themselves under that protection which etas ie.
tended exclusisely for imploration and poverty ; if the rich
have ahnost appropriated those advantages which were
held out solely to the poor ; if charity has become pro-
perty; if, the powerful having ow:led the impotent, the
rellige of wretchedness has becAnne the asy lutes of trans-
gression; if these things be true, or if there exist even
suspicion of their truth, enquiry should be stimulated to
vigilance, and .convicticn succeeded by resentment ! When
nppeals are made to the heart, and contributions are thus
levied on the pocket, the head has sonic claim to be satis-
fied that all is right. Charity ought not to be the great
Object of pious imposition.
Let the Conductors of the Foundling liospital look to
these reflections. Rumour, and something still louder
than ruemur, is against them. The whisperings of Maki-
duals may become the voice of society ; and, where large
demands are continually mule on public benevolence, it
may be kit necessary to consult public opinion. With
funds more than adequate to the ends of their institution,
awl continually atignienting, what is the application of
them ? Are the doors of this Hospital open to tin. real
Oleos of Bs legilimale succour, and to these only ?
access to it, on the contrary, go, as they sty of kissing, by
favour ? alas protection its price, or countenance its co. •
currence ?—These are rather weighty questions.
It is with time Foe % rt., however, that I !.rn
now principally concerned. Were it the business 01 t;.ii
paper to enter minutely into the merits of the Found!
Hospital, its interior could scarcely escape notice, mid
would, in many particulars, jitslify the language of reisr.-
liens'on. As they arc• at present conducted, I catertai-,
indeed, some fundamental objections to most of our 1)111)1 c
infantile institutions, and even to charitable nssocialions
ofi
a higher class. My opinions might appear singular: hut
they are founded on candid observation, and strengthened
by habitual reflection.
Chapels arc becoming too numerous. Our fathers, 7110
seem to have acted upon elevated conceptions of rclig;ons
worship, bequeathed to us temples not unworthy of mm-
tional devotion, monuments of the august piety of p...st
ages, vi bich still excite our admiration, without influencing
our conduct. Money can be found for an r thing eve: pt
the promotion of our established religion. Many people
talk of despoiling the church, and convenfeles spring HP
amorg es like exhalations; hut there is scarcely the nem,
who thinks of raising new national edifices for divine wor-
ship. Churches,' not chapels. are nevertheless mante
doe ches, en an enlarged and devotional plan, where high
and !ow, rich and poor, may fully mingle iss the worshp

last in ecclesiastical
not the poor, that places of religious Instruction are erect-
ed ; and it is to the rich, instead of the poor, that many
popular pastors ambitiously address their labours. The
Foundling-Chapel lap substantial claim to this distinction ;
and, 1 believe, the Gentlemen of the Philanthropic are the
only managers of these modern chapels, who, believing
the poor have souls to be saved, as well as themselves, gra-
tuitously adihil them to their Chapel l Liberal minds will
not overlook this honourable peculiarity, while enlighten-
ed minds will know bow to appreciate its effects.

However inelegant the assertion may appear, whatever
deficiency of taste tt may discover, I Must unequivocally
object to the Node of conducting Divine Fl orship in the
Fotinuunc, CHAPEL. It is theatrical in the extreme. SM.-
vey the audience, particularly the female portion of it,
banging on the extatic warbling', delightful thrillings, and
eleciritying shakes of two practised singers.—" Charm-
ing !"softly exclaims one lady :—" Beautiful I divine !"
rapturously adds her friend : while a third, unable to
suppress her emotions, heaves the sigh of delectatioa,
and scarcely restrains her applauding hands 1 ! I Are
these divine cxtacies ? Is this the enthusiasm of devo-
tion ? Every thing studiously aids this sense of temporal
fascination. The lightness of the building itself, and, at
other times, the brilliancy of its illumination ; the youth
and gaiety of the greater part of the assembly, not to call
it an audience, composed of coquetting lasses and ogling
lovers; and (what, however, is of secondary effect) a
most accomplished, and fashionably captivating, style of
hreaching. Religion, of course, ventures rarely to intrude
erself among such splendid worshippers of melody and
oratory.
It is time to be serious. To expect in such a place, and
ander such circumstances, that consecration of the heart
without which christianity is but a name, is looking for
grapes from thorns and figs from thistles. Levity may be
gratified, but devotion is distracted. Infidelity remains
unconfuted, disobedience unreproved,faith unexhorted.and
transgression unreclaimed. Young persons are induced
to consider the affairs of eternity as matters of laudable
aniusement, while their elders can with difficulty attach
themselves to the serious business of religion. Nor is this
the whole of the evil. Reverting to those children who
are the immediate objects of this charity, a rational spec-
tator will perceive the impropriety of the situation in which
they are thus placed. They form a sort of Exhibition ;
:aid, as far as the influence of example operates, they must,
if they aspire to any particular publicity, be emulous of
becoming public singers. Can any thing be more prepos-
terous ? Their patrons are absolutely 66 music mad," and
the contagion is rapidly indisposing their whole system.
I am anxious to be accurately understood. Seriously as
I deprecate the foundling-worship, 1 wish not to see piety
divested of its fair attractions, its becoming vestments, its
appropriate ornaments, its lawful appendages. There is
ostentatious plainness, as well as gorgeous pomposity s and,
perhaps, Diogenes in his tub was as proud as Alexander in
his palace.
Addison, in one ofhis admirable essays, describes the gra-
tification ie telt in accidentally hearing the Ritual of the
Church of England seriously and emphatically read. The
performance Of this portion of our Divine Service ought to
be considered of the highest importances since, in the opi-
nion of many, it would admit of judicious curtailments :
and its Keseni length, together with the frequency of its
repetii.on, most be rendered acceptable principally by the
manner in %Nh.ch it is delivered. 'Fiore is, however, much
to unntlalos oc on this head. Either the ministers of religion
do sot rigfy estimate the nature of this part of their duty,
or they are too generally, incompetent to the discharge of
it. Cowper, among his accusations against the clergy,
complains f "mills that cannot teach ;" but 9f tongues

inful and 'numerous as they are, he
lcapacity and indevotion on the art
generate inattention and indifer-
minds his hearers; what he performs as a
task, they feel as a toil; and, instead of entering into the
spirit of its liturgy, many members of the established church,
otherwise heartily attached to it, merely endure the rou-
tine of its rites and ceremonies. What aggravates this evil
is the cause to which chiefly it may be traced. It is not
the want of a volume of voice; it is not the absence of im-
perative looks and authoritative tones, of arranged gestures
and studied emphases ; these arc not the deficiencies which
I should specify in a clerical reader. Tremulousness of sup-
plicatinn, and distinctness of enunciation, arc the qualifica-
tions he should most cultivate. If his heart be but serious,
it will ,oive light to his understandin,g, and to his manner
an awful dignity. His situation is holv; and the sacredness
of the office confers sanctity on him who officiates. His de-
portment, indeed, may dissipate this divine illusion t but,
what shall extenuate his offence ?

Chapter Coffee-house, Paten-Tiroster-row.
ONESIMUS has received several letters, and his Corres-
pondents may rest assured that he will, as far as practicable,
avail himself of their communications. He has not done with
that extraordinary personage, WILLIAM 111:NTINcnoit, S. S.
of antinomian celebrity I nor have the efforts of his Advocates
escaped notice.— 4micus, or Observator, will not be forgotten:
the contents of his letter are mostly correct, but the Subject of
them requires more extended illustration.-4 miens Sistceres
puts, an important interrogatory, to which, however, only a
general answer can be given. " Extemporary Preaching" is
not Prohibited by any known " Rules of the Established Church
" of England ;" but then it is discouraged, as far at least as
Episcopal Authority can operate ; and it is unnecessary to re-
mind this correspondent, how muck even the requests of supe-
xiors to commands !
Certain " Verses, addressed to the Inhabitants of St. James's
" Westminster, on the Death of Dr. Parker and the Presenta-
" tints of the Rev. Gerrard Andrews," have been most duly re-
ceived ; and, if the poetry of the writer had but equalled his
piety, their length would not have precluded their publicity.
Let their circulation. therefore, continue to be prudentially
restricted; and, as heretofore, let them still lie " banded about
"in manuscript" only. This advice is given without the re-
motest affectation of superiority.
** * My next number will anal ize the clerical character of the
PREACHERS OF THE FOUNDLING CHAPLL.

NAUTICAL INTELLIGENCE.
Notice was on Friday received front Yarmouth, that some
vessels from Riga were in the Offing. If this intelltgetice be
correct, some relaxation must have taken place in the Franco-
Russian system of opposition to British commerce.
The Gloire fripte, Captain Carthew, cruising off the coast
of France, a few das since, discovered two of the largest clan
of French frigates, near Cape.Bartieur. Notw ithstaudipr this
immense odds, Captain C. with the utmost intrepidity, rusolved
on attacking them. In a few minutes the ship was clear- fur
action, every gun double shotted, and it was thought one broad-
side would so disable the sternmost ship, as to enable him to
cut her of. The enemy, on perceiving his intention. itumediately
crowded all sail, and, with the assistance of a strong in-shore
current, effected their escape into Cherbourg,but not without re-
ceiving a broadsidelfrom the Gloire, as they entered the mouth of
the harbour. What is still more convincing how much the ene-
my feel their own inferiority, the Amphitrite, a fine nos fri-
gate, ready for sea at Cherbourg, never made the least move-
ment to assist her magnanimous comradee, or even to giro theta
a tow into port.
1)11:1)
Lot week, at Maidenwell, near Louth, Mr. South4rt 11, in
his 100th year. He enjoyed a good state of health till within a
few days of his death.
The 24th August, at Gosford, after a short illness, tired 85
the Right Hon. Francis Charteris Wemyss, Earl of Wemyss.
Un the 9th ult. aged 87, the Rev. Sir Wm. Ullithorn Wray.
Bait. of Darley, Derbyshire, of which parish he had bhp 41
years Rector.

- .
SEPTEMBER 11. TIIE NATIONAL ITEGIStrR. 1
of their common Creator, in the way to their common that cannot read, painful and numerous as they are,
Maven I Theological affairs seem lamentably reversed. makes uo mention. incapacity and indevotion on the
Those to whom the Gospel was pit preached, are now the of the reader, naturally generate inattention and indil
ka
in ecclesiastical consideration: It is for the rich, and ence ih• the minds of his hearers; what he performs 1
~ . ,