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General view of the agriculture of the county of Somerset : with observations on the means of its improvement. Drawn up in the year 1795, for the consideration of the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement. By John Billingsley, Esq; ... and now re-printed with considerable additions and amendments, .. / John Billingsley
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OF SOMERSETSHIRE- 37

an induſtrious cottager, returning from his daily labour,

with a chearful countenance, and viewing his wife and chil-

"ht; and I would contribute

| dren with complacency and delig

| E;/ i

to their happineſs as much as in me lies, by humbly recom- mending to our leg1ſlators a ſerious peruſal of a pamphlet, )

a

publiſhed ſome years ago, entitled, Twenty minutes Atvice on the Poor Laws. By the plan there ſuggeſted, I verily think the ſituation of the induſtrious poor might be melio- rated, and the idle and diſſolute be made to contribute to- vards their ſupport.* All thoſe who are converſant with the ſtate of the lower claſs of ſociety, mußt know that the period of life in which a workman moſt ſuffers, is when he has five or ſix ſmall children. Then it is that the ſupport of the whole family depends on the father’s labour, and his utmoſt exertions is ſcarcely ſufficient to procure them bread 5 ſhould ſickneſs befall him, he muſt contrat debts; and

ſhould this repeatedly hay

L

"pen, before he has extricated him- ſelf, his ſpirits are broken, and the love of freedom and in- dependence no longer exiſts. A degree of torpor and inac- tivity ſucceeds, from which he ſcarcely ever emerges. To the man in this fituation, I would, 1f poflible, adminiſter relief; and the beſt method I can ſuggeſt is, that of encou-

ragino, by the authority of parliament, fFriendly Societies. ©) t D) dL 5

D

under the regulation of which, the batchelor might be made

*‘The pradice of farming out the poor ſeems to require correâtion. Ït is no leſs diſgraceful to the feelings of humanity than repugnant to the pureſt policy. To preſerve virtue, its native dignity ſhould be countenanced in every order of ſociety, and particularly in that claſs whoſe induſtry ſupplies ſuccour, and whoſe content promotes peace throughout the nation. But how can this be efeded by rendering them dependent for ſubſiftence upon one, who is appointed their pro. vider, only becauſe his terms for their ſupport are leſs burthenſome to the pariſh, than thoſe of his competitors for this office? G.F

II RS

 
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