APPENDIX. GOD and Nature link'd the general frame, POPE. FROM the foregoing sketch of the present state of London, it must be evident, that there are defects in its police, which nothing less than legislative wisdom and authority can rectify. Our moral body requires an alterative rather than a corrective ;-an antidote against the poison of vice, instead of an opiate to increase its lethargy. Humanity entreats the prevention of offences, which, if contmitted, justice must punish, and even mercy must not spare. How often do we all, in moments when our natural beneficence predominates, feel a fervent desire to contribute to the comfort of the miserable, and a philanthropie ardour to promote the universal happiness of mankind! A generous and sympathising wish that there was no misery in the world! How naturally do we participate the joys and the sorrows of those around us, from that exquisite sympathy implanted in man, by the Divine Being! Let us cherish those generous, those godlike propensities, by obedience to the dictates of benevo lence; by the alleviation of human misery; and the steady practice of that justice and charity, which will in the end exalt our "self-love to social, to divine." Under these impressions, the author begs leave to present the following hints to the reader's consideration ; and if they should, even in the smallest degree, contribute to the amelioration of society, he shall think that he has not lived, or written, in vain. 1. The punishment of seduction.-At present this violation of social happiness is rather promoted than prevented for as the only penalty is pecuniary, some de praved beings have been tempted to connive at the dishonour of their female relatives, from the desire to profit by it !-Hence the necessity of a more severe law; suppose the infliction of the pillory, and solitary inprisonment for a limited time. This would undoubtedly deter many a brutal debauchee from a pursuit the most pernicious to the population, health, and morals, of the people; for seduction is generally the precursor of pros titution. 2. As a preventive of female misery, a public building might be appropriated for the reception of majd-servants out of place, where they might be supplied with needlework, the manufacture of fans, gloves, artificial flowers, &c. which might be disposed of to shopkeepers. This institution would contribute to the welfare of many a beautiful and virtuous young woman. 3. The institution of several asylums for prostitutes. It is a well-known and melancholy fact, that the present limited receptacles for those unhappy beings are inadequate. Without exaggeration, we may venture to estimate the number of prostitutes in this capital at ten thousand; and their disconsolate and friendless state renders them particularly worthy of commisseration. The feeling heart shudders with sympathy, and a mournful sensation, nearly allied to despondency, fills the bosom of the passenger, who nightly beholds those poor victims of seduction stand shivering, and exposed to the inclemency of the wintry atmosphere. Sometimes, where a group of them stand together, vociferating obscene expressions, responding hysteric fits of laughter, or assuming an air of gaiety, and humming songs which once amused their days of innocence, the querulous voice of woe is heard amid their feeble affectation of jollity, and the starting tears of anguish roll down those cheeks which once bloomed with health, but are now hollow with disease, and florid with the tints of art. Were those poor, those beautiful outcasts of society, reclaimed, they might yet become as they were intended by the Giver of all good-the ornaments of the community. Let the phîlanthropist only reflect on the national advantage which might be derived from the restoration of so great a nunber of our fellow-creatures to the paths of virtue! Let him consider the accession of happiness and increase of population, in consequence of ten thousand young women being reclaimed from vice, happily married, and cherishing a numerous and healthy offspring. Does not the human bosom swell and palpitate with an earnest wish to facilitate this grand and important national benefit? 4. A house of industry for convicts, instead of banishment. The utility of such an institution is too obvious to require any illustration. 5. The total suppression of pawnbrokers, and the abolition of state-lotteries. 6. Limitation of taverns and alehouses.—It appears that there are upwards of five thousand alehouses in this capital, and that many of them are kept by immoral characters. On the other hand, several worthy men obtain a comfortable livelihood, by vending beer, ale, &c. and public-houses are indispensable; but surely less than half the present number would be sufficient, while the suppression of those most objectionable would promote sobriety and industry among the laborious classes of the community. 7. It would be a glorious act of beneficence in the Imperial parliament, to authorise the before-mentioned improvements; and still more worthy of their munificence to enact a law for the pulling down and rebuilding many of those filthy lanes and courts, in different parts of the capital, where vice is now taught with systematic and fatal accuracy. Let our benevolent legislators condescend to rescue thousands of our fellow-creatures from those dens of immorality, from which, like the progeny of death and sin, they issue to infest the community, till the arm of the law arrests their dire career. In order to render such a measure truly and permanently efficacious, it would be necessary to take up all the beggars, and convey them from their present wretched hovels to receptacles where they might end their days in peace. Their children might be taken under the protection of government, and educated so as to qualify them for an industrious progress through life. By such regulations, delinquencies would gradually diminish; a sufficient degree of knowledge would enable those miserable children who |