ful, may be adopted with equal advantage by others, I subscribe myself Yours faithfully, bours, and the condition of the people committed to their charge. From one of the tables prefixed to the "Abstract of Population Returns," made in 1821, it appears that in every hundred persons, tak. ing the average throughout Eng ON THE ADVANTAGE OF THE land, there are as follow POPULATION-RETURNS TO THE CLERGY. To the Editor of the Remembrancer. SIR, AMIDST the mass of official documents from time to time presented to the consideration of our legislature, there are none I think more interesting and important than those returns of the population of England, which are made every ten years under the act of parliament commonly called the Population Act. By means of tables formed from the materials contained in these returns, the statesman and the political economist are enabled to judge of the comparative strength of the country, and the condition of the people at large. The members of the medical profession exult in the proof which these reports afford of the superiority of the modern practice of physic, and appeal to the numerical increase of the population as a testimony that myriads of lives are now preserved from the effects of diseases, which in former times were the precursors of death. And the capitalists, who, as dealers in annuities or insurances, make merchandize of the few years we have to live, derive from the same source the means of calculating their profits and losses for years to come, and of regulating the concerns of their trade. But whilst the above-mentioned classes look with such a degree of interest upon the numerical statement of the population, I cannot but wish that the Clergy would avail themselves of the advantage which they may derive from this branch of knowledge, and apply it to ascertain the effect of their la This calculation, though not mathematically exact, is sufficiently near the truth for every practical purpose; and it will enable every parish priest to learn whether his schools contain a large or small proportion of the children of his parish; whether the number of youths he presents for confirmation to the Bishop be as great as might be expected, were he to judge by the number of those who are of age to receive that ordinance, and living in the parish. But the most important application of the principle thus laid down, will be found in the means it affords of ascertaining the proportion of communicants in the same parish at different times, and at different parishes at the same time. For instance, were I a rector of a parish which contained one thousand inhabitants, the above table would teach me that one half of my parishioners were above twenty years of age; and from them I should expect the communicants at the Lord's table. If at my first coming into the parish I found fifty persons habitually communicating, I should record the number; and at any successive return made by public authority of the population of the parish, I should see not only whether the number of the communicants had positively increased, but whether it had done so comparatively with the increase or the diminution of the population. If the proportion of communicants should be found to have increased, I should have fair grounds to rejoice that my labours had in the same degree prospered; and if on the contrary, a falling off should be perceived, I should deem it my duty to examine my own conduct very narrowly, under the apprehension that I might find in my own remissness a cause of this failure of attendance on the Holy Table, as well as in the carelessness of my flock. In the same manner also the above calculation will shew the comparative state of different villages and towns, and enable the curate of one village to judge whether or no he is more or less successful than his neighbours in preserving his people in close communion with our Holy Church. Trusting that my brethren will profit by this hint for the improvement of a parish, and being unwill. ing to weary your patience, I shall conclude with subscribing myself, In the course of last month a meeting took place at Lambeth-palace, of the Trustees of Bromley College, in Kent, when three poor widows of loyal and orthodox Ĉlergymen of the Church of England were elected into that College. At the same time two others were nominated by the Trustees as outpensioners, on the recent endowments of the present Bishop of Rochester, which have been generously annexed by him to the establishment of his benevolent predecessor, Bishop Warner. As many of your readers may be unacquainted with the particulars of this charitable clerical establishment, the following short account of it may not be unacceptable. Bromley College was originally founded, according to the directions of Bishop Warner's will, in 1666, for twenty widows of loyal and orthodox Clergymen of the Church of England, and a Chaplain, always to be chosen from Magdalen College, Oxford. The number of widows has since been increased to forty, and their pecuniary payment augmented from 207. to 307. 10s. a year, by the benefactions of Bishop Pearce, and his brother Mr. William Pearce, Mrs. Bettenson, the Rev. Mr. Hetherington, and other charitable per sons. The number of petitions presented at these elections generally exceeding 25, the Trustees are frequently under the painful necessity of selecting, from cases of almost equal distress, the widows to fill up the vacancies in the College. It appears, therefore, from this fact, that, notwithstanding there are a few other establisments of the same nature, aided, as they are, by the Diocesan Charities of the Parochial Clergy, they are, taken altogether, lamentably deficient. A more judicious attempt to obtain a fund sufficient to meet this deficiency, cannot perhaps be made, than by the plan now adopted by the Bishop of Rochester: a plan that offers to the charitable friends of our National Church, an advantageous and easy mode of essentially contributing to her support; and to the opulent and benevolent the opportunity of relieving distress, under circumstances which peculiarly recommend it to their consideration. To secure the permanent means of carrying their patriotic and humane intentions into effect, the Trustees of the College are fully empow. ered, by Act of Parliament, for the necessary uses declared in that Act. Thus a permanent fund may be established, for augmenting the number of poor clergymen's widows, outpensioners to Bromley College: and towards the establishment of such fund, the Bishop of Rochester has vested in the Trustees of the College two thousand pounds three per cent. Bank Annuities. This project of the venerable prelate comprises not only the gradual augmentation of the uumber of widows out-pensioners, but also the further relief and comfort of such as are resident in the College; and ultimately, when any further in. crease in the number of the widows shall become inexpedient, by extending assistance to their orphan children. LINES ON THE PENITENTIARY AT MILLBANK. WE have been favoured with the THANKS be to those, who plann'd these silent cells, The Gamblers' haunts, and enter'd Folly's door; I added base ingratitude to theft. Yet surely school'd within these walls, my mind REMEMBRANCER, No. 62. N 10 15 20 25 And sooner would I here the irksome sway Here every action is by rule defin'd; To each its proper time and place assign'd; Now throw the shuttle and now turn the mill; near; 30 335 40 45 50 How many, who abide, with limbs half bare, 90 95 His spirits droop, and health and strength decay, Nor mind nor body is neglected here. 100 The Leech with med'cine goes his daily round, But widely do they err, whe think it clear, 155 140 145 |