Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold his righteousness. Then she that is mine Enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? Mine eyes shall behold her-and now shall she be trodden down as the mire in the streets.' The lady was struck with the words and their applicableness, and immediately retired: And the dealings of God with the family not long after made this remembered." After his release he preached privately for some years: he died at about forty years of age, and, notwithstanding his sufferings, kept his temper and moderation to the last. "Batcomb: Richard Allein, M. A.-was a pious, prudent, diligent and zealous, but meek Instructor of his flock: much respected in these parts [of Somerset] and well known through the nation by his pious practical writings. He wrote (among other things) Vindicia Pietatis in four parts: Ist, A vindication of godliness in the greatest strictness and spirituality of it from the imputation of folly and fancy [enough, this in itself, to be ejected for.] 2nd, The Godly man's portion and sanctuary: 3rd, Heaven opened, or a brief and plain discovery of the riches of God's covenant of grace: 4th, The world conquered, or a Believer's victory over it. 8vo.-His book called Vindicio, &c. though tending manifestly to promote true piety yet could not be licensed. They were greedily bought up and read by sober people, and have been very instrumental to mend the world. They were so valuable, that the King's bookseller caused a great part of the impression to be seized, because unlicensed, and so to be sent to the King's kitchen. From thence he [the bookseller] bought them for an old song, bound them up and sold them in his own shop. This was at length complained of, and he was forced to beg pardon upon his knees at the Council Table, and send them back again to the King's kitchen, to be bisk'd, as I think the word is; that is, to be rubbed over with an inky brush!" An account of the Ministers, &c. silenced, &c. vol. 2, pa. 578–580. I have extracted the latter article of these two for the sake of the account it gives of a trick in trade: which, though given by honest Calamy without a word of Comment, speaks volumes in explanation of the system of licensing and suppressing publications, to serve not only the purposes of party, political or religious, but also the still more sordid ones of a private interest. Ed. ART. VII.-Cracking the gad! Burials and Church-rates. "The old and singular custom of cracking the gad, or whip, in Castor Church on Palm Sunday has been again performed. An estate at Broughton near Brigg is held by this custom: On the morning of Palm Sunday, the game-keeper, or some servant on the estate, brings with him a large gad, or whip with a long thong, the stock made of the Mountain ash or Wicken tree, and, tied to the end of it a leathern purse containing thirty pence, said to have been formerly silver pieces. While the clergyman is reading the first Lesson (Exod. ix.) the man having the whip cracks it three times in the church porch, and then wraps the thong round the stock and brings it on his shoulder through the church to a seat in the chancel, where he continues till the second Lesson is read (Matt. xxvi.) he then brings the gad, and kneeling upon a mat before the pulpit, he waves it three times over the clergyman's head (the thong is fastened as before observed) and continues to hold it till the whole of the Lesson is read, when he again returns to his seat and remains till the service is over. He then delivers the gad to the occupier of a farm called Hundon, half a mile from Castor." Record paper. Should it be asked how it comes to pass that such a piece of insulting mummery as this continues in use, the reply must be- we cannot help it-there is no doing it away-an estate is held by it, there is a vested interest concerned! And should we be further curious to know how it originated, we may guess from the terms of the ceremony, that some piece of gross injustice or cruelty on the part of a former incumbent has led to it: the money is waved, with a significant hint in the manner, over the clergyman's head, and then delivered bona fide to the farmer. It was moreover the price of a man.' The reason for keeping it up is just the reason for upholding much of that which every Incumbent of a benefice is obliged to perform, or be subject to a process of a more serious kind than this, and which may end in the loss of his living. He has the whip over his head, in some measure, every time he reads the Lessons; and woe is to his worldly interest if he presume to reform creeds and ceremonies, and redress grievances for the flock! He cannot remove the grossest absurdity from any part of what he is expected to go through as Divine service! The late Joseph Gurney Bevan used to say that no corrupt church ever did or ever could reform itself. An awful consideration this for several churches at the present time! From the Record' paper: Sept. 9th, 1830. 'A Clergyman residing within a few miles of this town [Bedford] has determined that for the future no dissenter shall be buried in the church-yard of his parish. In the village alluded to there is already a dissenting place of worship, and it would not be difficult for the dissenters to procure a piece of ground for the interment of their dead. But if this system of exclusion be acted upon by the clergy of the Establishment generally, we think it will cause a greater schism between our Church-brethren and their Fellow-christians of other denominations, than already exists.' Bedford Mercury. For what do dissenters pay Church-rates-and how long will they submit to that imposition? Ed. FABLES. ART. IX.-FABLES, &C., IN VERSE AND PROSE. CONTINUED. The Bat and the Weasel. 31 The Bat happening to alight on a hurdle in the Stack-yard was seized by the Weasel, of whom she earnestly begged her life. The Weasel objected that it was his nature to eat birds, and he could not let her go: but the Bat assuring him she was a mouse, he released her for that time. The Weasel was again in the way when she next came thither, and captured her as before. Thinking it might be another of the same tribe, she again tried her art, and in reply to his assertion that he was there on purpose to eat mice, she stated that she was a bird. Thou canst not be both, said the crafty Weasel. Thou wast a mouse when I let thee go before, and as such I will now eat thee.' The Application. We must be true to our principles. Expediency may at times suggest a departure from them to serve a temporary purpose-but in the end such conduct is always attended with defeat. The Merchants disappointed. Some Merchants on their way to a celebrated mart, happened to ascend a watch tower on the coast, from which they discovered somewhat in the offing, like a vessel dismasted and abandoned by the crew: They waited for the tide to bring the object nearer, when from its size, as now seen, they concluded it could be nothing more than a boat. At last, when pretty close in to shore, it was found to be merely a collection of drift wood floating on the water. This was not the whole of their disappointment: for on reaching the place where their business lay, being somewhat too late, they found they had missed some advantageous bargains. The Cock, the Dog, and the Fox. Æsop. Two faithful sentinels in each farm yard are found, ADVERTISEMENT. Present circumstances of Joseph Lancaster. The ingenious, intrepid, and indefatigable author of the BRITISH SYSTEM of School teaching, is now at Montreal, in Lower Canada, working (not indeed at common labour, or handicraft) but with his head and pen, as in earlier life, for his support. He is understood to be keeping school and editing a Newspaper, with a second family on his hands; having contracted a second marriage. And that very common attendant on great talents, the faculty of disobliging patrons, not having left him, he has latterly been deprived of some allowance from the Legislature, and left in circumstances which have induced him to propose coming hither as a Mendicant-a step which his best friends, for the cause' sake as well as his own, must deprecate. "Five and thirty years ago," as Cowper would say, or at a period not much less remote (for so long have I known him) Joseph and I were wont to spend an hour together, not "in converse always friendly always sweet," but in troublesome consultations of his Friends in Committee, on the best means of furthering his truly British plans for giving to the children of the people a plain education. The genius of Monopoly and Intolerance, it is well known, made their execution as difficult as 'possible, and meanly stooped to clear the field of public benevolence by subscriptions in favour of Doctor Bell, raised long before they could be applied in that gentleman's behalf. And what has the Bell System at length effected with all the support it has received? Pax sit rebus !—I have made honourable mention of Lancaster already; and there are men, formerly on his committee, (more deserving of public statues than of public neglect,) of whom it will not be permitted me to do the like. Let them retain, with myself, their honourable privacy to the end of their days: they are not (let us thank God) in poverty and in exile! But the eccentricity, the untractableness and independence of him, who now for the last time solicits their aid, has wearied even their kindness. Yet it was these very qualities of mind, which at the first raised Joseph Lancaster above the prejudices and habits of his age, and under Divine Providence made him do the great things (for great they are) which he achieved. Shall we never forgive his offences, and forget his errors? One early friend he has yet left (I write not now of myself) who has not dropped all correspondence with him-my friend Joseph Fletcher of Tottenham very recently, with the aid of two or three others likeminded, commenced a subscription to raise a fund for Lancaster, and give him an Annuity, payable half yearly from hence, for the remainder of his life. I trust this project will meet with due encouragement from the public. His old patrons cannot surely let him starve, with the fruits of his patriotism before their eyes; and his Country will be too just to refuse TO SUCH A MAN the meagre boon of a maintenance. Ed. Communications may be addressed, POST PAID, "For the Editor of the Yorkshireman,' at the Printer's, Pontefract; at Longman and Co.'s, London; John Baines and Co.'s. Leeds; and W. Alexander's, York. CHARLES ELCOCK, PRINTER, PONTEFRACT. THE YORKSHIREMAN, A RELIGIOUS AND LITERARY JOURNAL BY A FRIEND. PRO PATRIA. No. XXVII. FIFTH DAY, 15th EIGHTH Mo. 1833. PRICE 4d. ART. I.-On Temperance and Temperance Societies. The present is an age distinguished by gigantic efforts to improve the understandings and amend the morals of the people. For this end are combined the (otherwise feeble and limited) powers of individuals in the form of public associations. The British and Foreign Bible Society led the way (about thirty years ago) as a general undertaking for the inhabitants of this empire, and the world at large; so far as its aid might be found availing, thus extended, for the diffusion of that great and universal Code of morality the Bible. That all might be enabled to read this and other useful books, it was necessary that Education should become universal; and for this purpose we have that unrivalled (though not without a rival) institution, the British and Foreign School Society. Something it seems was yet wanting; for if people cannot be kept sober, they will neither learn nor read to purpose-or it will matter little what they have learned or read. Their lives will be at best useless, and their maintenance a burden on the community. A feeling of this gross defect in morals-in our conduct of ourselves as a nation, has led to various associations for promoting an abstinence from spirituous liquors ; ending in the establishment of a British and Foreign Temperance Society. That persons habitually overcome by this vice, and disposed to reform, may assist each other by uniting in societies, and entering into certain engagements sanctioned by penalties, is a point too clear to need insisting on; and that a proportion of sober men may usefully |