labourer, or deficiency of employment render him incapable of earning his daily bread, instead of having a little fund to which he might have recourse in the time of distress, he is obliged (to use a vulgar phrase) to come upon the Parish, which is compelled to repay the sums expended on these itinerant Preachers. Many, too, of these poor people, whilst actually receiving relief from their Parish, are regularly devoting a portion of it towards the support of their Religious Establishments. Thus, in fact, the Poor-rates, instead of being calculated for the relief of the Poor, are nothing less than contributions, levied for the support of the Invaders of our Religion; and every member of the Church, who is called upon by the Overseer to make his contribution, is, as it were, committing suicide, by furnishing the weapons, and supporting the hands which are to wield them, against the foundation of his venerable structure. Now, Mr. Urban, though I am far from wishing to deprive the Poor of any of their privileges, or in any way to oppress them; yet, surely, it is but common prudence to take care that our money is not expended upon them either rashly, or without discretion. With this idea, therefore, I have ventured to make this communication to you; in hopes that, through the medium of the Gentleman's Magazine, it may meet the eye of some person who may be more competent to discuss the point than myself, and that one day or other it will become the subject of parliamentary inquiry. Might I be allowed to suggest a remedy, I should advise that the Dissenters be obliged to maintain their owu poor; and that in no case parochial relief should be afforded to a pauper, who can be proved to have expended his money in aid of any other Religious Establishment than the Church. By this means, the growth of fanaticism would be checked, the Poor-rates greatly diminished, the interests of the Established Church promoted, and, consequently, the State at large materially strengthened. What a happy thing would it be, not merely for the Ecclesiastical, but also for the Civil World, if the Bench of Bishops, instead of forming plans for curtailing the rights and privileges, and for depressing and degrading the characters, of the Established Clergy, would contrive some

means for checking the intrusions of the Dissenter, whose constant and sole aim is, to destroy that Church, from the emoluments of which they (the Bishops) are clothed in purple and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day! What would be our condition, if there were no future state, in which our labours will be rewarded by the Great Bishop of Souls? then should we, of all men, be most miserable: persecuted, not only by our enemies, but even by our familiar friends, with whom we have walked in the house of God, and to whom we are taught to look up as the promoters of our temporal and eternal interests. From such Apostles, O ye Ministers of State, defend the Church.

Mr. URBAN,

W

A CAMBRIAN VICAR.

July 3.

RITS of Array for arming the Clergy occurred in ancient times; but the following is modern, and much more curious, being an authentic account of a Review and Sham-fight of the Clergy, which was intended this year, but, from circumstances, is postponed to the next.

The Clergy are to be marshalled in two distinct Armies, and commence action in the manner below described. Each Army will have distinct appellations; one High Church, the other Low Church.

The field will be taken first by the High Church Army: a band of Parish Clerks, singing the psalm " How sweet it is for brethren to dwell together in unity," will announce the arrival of the Commander in Chief, who will be mounted upon a fine charger, furnished by General who has given notice of a Bill to regulate the conduct of all future Clerical Troops, by Parliamentary Authority.

The main body of Infantry will consist of the resident Incumbents, who will be armed with sixty rounds a man of written Sermons; and they will be drilled every day, for a long time preceding, in reading them vehemently and loudly, so as to present a formidable front to the enemy, and keep up a heavy fire.

The Dignitaries will form a fine Brigade of heavy Cavalry. They will be uniformly attired in full black, cauliflower wigs, and shovel-shaped hats. Their military appearance has already attracted the admiration of the the ladies, who, with a view to the terror they will excite, have exclaimed "What frights they are!" whereas no female ever gave such a truly military denomination to our redcoated gentry.

The Artillery will be composed of a fine regiment of Clerical Members of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge. The Universities will furnish a Troop of Flying Artillery, composed of Junior Fellows, who are accustomed to ride hard every Sunday morning, to serve distant Curacies.

The Main Body of the Low-Church Infantry will consist of the Welsh and Somersetshire Dissentients, whose ranks will be strengthened by many ousted Lecturers and Curates. Being deprived of their farms, their ploughshares and pruning-hooks will be converted into pikes: for, not being provided with the musquets of good livings, and having no ammunition, they rely upon the Charge.

The Artillery will be composed of Clerical Members of the Bible Societies. Much dependance is placed upon a body of Grenadiers, called GospelPreachers, whose entrance into the field will be announced by seven Trumpeters, playing "Blow ye the Trumpet in Zion."

The Cavalry will consist of Clergymen, who are eminent in hunting, and keep good horses. Upon their standard will be the motto, "Pro aris et focis;" underneath it the literal English translation, "For the Hares and Foxes." If their horses are not too light, they will be able to stand a charge of the Dignitaries; and, if so, their superior practice in using the hunting-whip will give them power to withstand "the sword of the Lord, and of Gideon," which the Dignitaries will wield against them.

A Corps of Riflemen will be formed from the Shooting Clergy.

The ground will be kept by lean Welsh Curates, mounted upon ponies, whose sallow appearance will justify the name of their regiment, the Clerical Death's Head Hussars.

The Action will commence by a cannonade of Puffs and Dinner Speeches from the Bible Society Artillery; which will be answered by that of the Bartlett's Building Corps, who will reply by a heavy fire of Orthodox Pamphlets. Much execution will be done on both sides.

The Grenadiers of Gospel Preachers will then make a grand effort to break the Centre, to which they will be animated by a loud shout of "Extempore for ever" from the multitude. The resident Incumbents will receive them by a cool fire of remonstrance, that such preaching is fit only for men of abilities; that the superior orders will not sit in a Church to hear nonsense, and that, therefore, edification, though not popularity among the vulgar, is better secured by written good sense, than parole trash. After much firing on both sides, the High Church Heavy Cavalry will charge, and compel them, because supported by only Light Horse, incapable of charging in line, to retreat. This retreat will be made, however, in perfect good order; and the Gospel Preachers will continue to retain the affections of the uneducated, from their bravery in defying their enemies.

The Rifle Corps will do little or no mischief, as they will be afraid to advance close enough to take good aim. They will skulk about, and only make complaints among friends.

The Main Body of Dissentients, for want of powerful Officers, will be soon obliged to give way; especially as they will not be equal in their Arms, which do not exceed the power of pens and printing types. The Field, where the Sham-Fight will be fought, will from that day be called, "The Clergy-Regulation Bill Field."

Mr. URBAN,

July 10.

WISH it to be understood that, in

the quotation inserted in your Magazine for last month, from my History of Cambridge, relative to the name of the Town and University, I have rather stated different opinions, than given a decided one of my own; or, perhaps, played with, and humoured, opinions, to try the strength of each.

Mr. Thomas Richards, in his An

tique Linguæ Britannicæ Thesaurus, under the article Afon, observes, "Avon is the proper name of several rivers in England; as Avon, the river of Bristol; the Avon in Northamptonshire; another in Warwickshire, where there is a town, called Stratford upon Avon, &c., for which this reason is to be assigned; viz. that the English, when they drove the Britons out of that part of Great Britain, called from them England, took the appellatives of the old inhabitants for proper names; and so, by mistaking Avon, which, with us, signifies only a river in general, it came to serve with them for the proper name of several of their rivers."

The learned Edward Lhwyd, both in his Archæologia Britannica, and in his Adversaria, subjoined to Baxter's Glossarium Antiquitatum Britannicarum, had preceded Richards in such like observations; and in his Comparative Etymology had produced copious examples of Prefixes and Postfixes to old British appellative Nouns; together with the various interchanges of Vowels and Consonants; aiming to trace thereby the original roots of many British names: and it has been thought by some, that the etymological sense of Cam, Granta, and Canta, may be ascertained in the same way.

On this subject, then, I have a few more ideas, which I reserve for their proper place. Yours, &c. G. DYER.

*** WE have much satisfaction in bringing forward to the notice of our Readers the benevolent exertions of the Rev. H. BERKIN, towards raising a Fund for the erection of a new Church in the Forest of Dean; and trust, that the peculiar circumstances of a numerous class of people will excite such a degree of interest, as to render successful the object of this public appeal.

"The Royal Forest of Dean, in the county of Gloucester, a waste tract of upwards of 20,000 acres, has no Church in it, nor any means of religious instruction expressly provided for the use of its inhabitants. These, consisting chiefly of Miners and Colliers, partly from their secluded situation between the Rivers Severn and Wye, partly from the nature of their employments, and partly from the distance of great numbers of them from the Parish Churches

adjoining the Forest, have hitherto been too generally living in the neglect of moral and religious duties. Few have been used to observe the Sabbath; still fewer to attend the Churches on the

borders; and the ignorance naturally accompanying such a state, has not failed to produce a corresponding effect on the life and conduct. Seven years have nearly elapsed since I became Stipendiary Curate of the parish of Mitcheldean, on the North-east side of the Forest, next Herefordshire; and finding that part of the Forest adjoining me in the above / state, I considered it a duty to attempt its improvement. Anxious to ameliorate, at least, the rising generation, I opened a Sunday School for the Foresters' Children, several hundreds of whom, at length, came to receive education and religious instruction, in a building erected for this sole purpose. For further particulars on this head, I beg to refer to the First Report of the National Society for the Education of the Poorthough fully conscious how unworthy I am of the commendation they have been pleased to bestow. My next attempt was with the Parents. Finding that few, by comparison, attended Public Worship, I visited them in their cottages, to read and explain the Bible; and I was led to adopt this plan from the particular situation of the Foresters, destitute of

Churches or Ministers whom they could

properly call their own. In these pastoral visits, made on different evenings in different places, and in which I have usually spent two hours, in reading and practically explaining the Holy Scriptures, I have sometimes had 200 persons