The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-27 00:00:00

THE LANCASHIRE DIS2RESS.

It is possible that a Count Rumford—an apostle
of comfort to the destitute—may arise out of the
needs of the time; and perhaps I may have been led
to the choice of my theme to-day by some vague
hope that the revival of the image of Count Rum-
ford may hasten the appearance of some successor,
in the crisis of our need. We all rejoice to hear of
a sick kitchen in one place ; of penny meals and
pleasant rooms to eat them in another; and of pro-
posals for a training kitchen elsewhere. We are all
glad to hear that in some districts the melancholy
sameness of the dole of meal and soup, or breadand
soup, is broken up, and that the variety of potato-
hash, rice and milk, &c., is introduced. But still,
we are but too well aware that the people gene-
rally are not sufficiently nourished, and that they
do not so enjoy their meals as to derive the full
benefit of what they eat. We have not now,
thank Heaven ! natural philosophers who pro-
pose starch for poor men's diet, because starch com-
prehends such and such nutritious elements ; nor
mightyDakes who come forward, brave in conscious
humanity, to recommend a pinch of curry powder
in cold water to warm the poor man's stomach,
aching with emptiness. We have not to blush for
this kind of display of humanity; but neither have
we as yet a Count Rumford who would ask of us
only our money and our help, in order to ensure a
full and comfortable support to every sufferer in
Lancashire till the mills are going again. We would
readily forgive any appearance of military drill in
his methods, at such an hour as the present, in con-
sideration of the security he would certainly give
us that nobody should die of hunger, if only we
would provide the money, and would give him the
spending of it. If a Count Rumford the Second
would present himself to-day, we would make sore
of his name being known in the next century more
widely and more familiarly than that of his prede-
cessor.—Once a Week.

AN OLD WELSH CUSTOM.— k very pretty usage,
which eventually died away (although it has been partially
revived in some places), was that of the Plygain, which
consisted in holding an early service on Christmas morning
in the church, illuminated for the occasion. At 4 o'clock
a.m. the bells rang out merrily, and the singers proceeded
to the parsonage to escort the vicar to the church porch,
lighting up the road with their torches, and singing carols
lustily. Crickhowell, in Breconshire, was noted for its
Plygain, though it has been discontinued for some years,te
the vicar and inhabitants preferring their slumbers to the
early early service. It is, I believe, carried out as in days of yr_
in the parish of Llanover, in Monmouthshire, the wreo
ai
I character of which village is carefully kept up bya nni,ds!
1.2:
Llanover, an enthusiast in nationality and Welsh flannel.—
Once a Week.
A WORD ABOUT THE ISLE OF SKyE.—lf we had
such a "guide, philosopher, and friend" as
ford at this moment, we must give himsomCeotuhnintgitmuniore.
cotton manufacture to
than even the area of our Lancashire pressure what
it might, take
manage. We must, be the L
o the Island of Skye.—
Yes, even so ; thoughbbu t
landno trifletthoecrHosesbrtihdeesturin-
bulent Northern seas, and
winter. The melancholy truth is that unless we do, in
heart and in purse, cross. that stormy sea, and visit Skye
without delay, the sounding shores of that solemn island
be strewn with the silent dead by the time the winter is
owvilele according to the latest accounts, the state of thinzn
crate, and unless something is done
in Skye is most desp
quickly there will be worse suffering in Skye this whiter
than we have sem ill LPAC4flire.—Onco a Wok.