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ON THE BREAD LAWS.

To the Editor of the Commercial and Agricultural Magazine. SIR,» y BUSE

AVING latelÿ.been called to London upon buſineS, 1 ; have, obléerved, with ſome ſurpriſe, the preſent‘arrange- ments about Bread and Bakers. While in the country, the law for eating fale bread, appeared very rational; inaſmuch, 2s it imitated the uſual’ cœconomy of the beſt houſewifes,- whoſe rule preſcribes, that bread ſhall not-be touched till the next bakîng is in the oven. Hence,(ſuppoſing a weekly baking ſome of the bread muſt be a fortnight old, when eaten. It ſeemed, therefore, a Very moderate coercion in the preſent ſcar- city, to reſtrain the public from eating bread, till twenty-four hours after baking.-But,“alas, Mr. Editor,.the manufa@ured (T might; perhaps, properly. enough” ſay, medicated)- bread: in London, is only adapted to immediate conſumption 5, and is ſo completely hard and ftale, on the ſecond or third day, that I am perſuaded, as much is thrown away on that account as ſaved.‘Nor will this fa@t appear very unlikely to any one, who, conſiders, how great a part of the population of London conſiſts of opulent families, whoſe pantry is entirely at the diſ- poſal of cheir,fervants; a race of people infinitely more faſti= dious in the ârticles of food than their maſters. A piece of ſtale bread would particularly trench upon the dignitaries of the kitchen, and the cornmon ſewer be. the immediate receptacle of ſuch an unſightly incumbrance.—LIn the mean time, I am ready to own; that, certainly, the unpleaſant taſte of dry bread muſt diminiſh its couſumption in ſome other claſſes of the com munity. I am willing, on this account, to ſubtract as much from the conſumption, as Was added on the former conſider- ation; and infer from the equiponderance of theſe cauſes, that the ſame quantity of bread is conſumed in London as before, and that the late law is merely, in effedt,‘a law for compel- ling his Majeſty?s liege ſubjects of-thisgnetropolis, to eat dry bread at the hazdárd of being choakéd.—However, the law was well-inténtioned; and it is ſometimes neceſſary, to every le- giſlature, tO make laws for pleaſing the public, as well as for its benefit; for the belief of à benefit is as falutary in politics, as the imagination has been lately proved. to be in bodily diſ- tempers: whence Meſmerites;, Galvaniſim, and Metallic Trac- tors have, beyond all diſpute, eſſeÆed many cures.— T'hus, by 2 droll- coincidence, the men whoſe reaſon dete&s the fallacy of thoſe impoſitions, are compelled to léave to the excluſive uſe of filly dupes, thoſe very tricks, which themſelves confeſs_may be uſeful, with the addition of the grand ingredient, faith in the

decor.‘Tlius, the imagination ot the public, ſuftering under