"And dinner will be on the table at three o'clock.
"N. B. A Te Deum composed by Mr. Handel, for the late duke of Chandos's chapel, with Jubilate and other Anthems, will be performed by Mr. Beard, and a proper band of the best performers, both vocal and instrumental.
"Tickets for the feast may be had at the following places at five shillings each," &c. &c.
The readers of the newspapers of our day will thus perceive that Solomon was right in saying, 'there is nothing new under the Sun;' from the above hour, nay long before, conviviality and charity have coalesced. Dinners, and collections after dinners, when the mind generously dilates,
have relieved thousands from the deepest misery; and I hope this mode of filling the chasms of more disinterested benevolence will prevail till such methods are unnecessary.
An occurrence happened in 1762, which places the humanity of his present Majesty in a very amiable point of view. A female infant had been left in one of the courts of the palace of St. James's; some of the officers in waiting sent it to the overseers of St. Martin's parish, who, with those of St. Margaret's afterwards applied to, refused to receive the child under the plea that the palace was an independent jurisdiction. When the King heard of the circumstance, he immediately ordered that a nurse should be provided, and the fortunate orphan was subsequently honoured with the name of Georgiana Charlotta Sophia.
The City of London Lying-in hospital, established many years past, has served as a pattern for several others in various parts of the Metropolis. From the date of its commencement to 1762, 3655 married women had been received, 45 of whom were delivered of twins, and one of three children; including which, 1896 male and 1806 female infants were indebted for life to this humane establishment[57:A].
Collections have been frequently made during severe weather, or on some particularly distressing occasion, from door to door in the various parishes within the bills of mortality, and considerable sums obtained. In the winter of 1763, the inhabitants of St. Anne's, Westminster, gave 169l. 15s. 3d. the Princess dowager of Wales 100l. and the duke of York 50l. to the poor not relieved by the regular assessments. Nor was this a solitary instance of generosity, as the duke of Newcastle gave above 400l. to different places at the same period; and the rich parish of St. James's relieved 1200 persons with gifts of money and coals.
Though so much had been done to prevent the calamities of poverty, wretchedness prevailed in places where benevolence could not imagine it existed. Garrets in retired alleys and lanes always afford inmates in the last stages of disease and starvation; and the instances that might be adduced would prove very distressing in the recital; but that supposed empty houses should contain wretches expiring with want, was beyond the imagination of the most exalted charity; and yet the following melancholy fact actually occurred in November 1763, the narrative of which may serve as a hint to overseers, whose duty it is, I should conceive, to prevent actual death through want in their respective districts.
A Mr. Stephens, of Fleet-market, was commissioned to shew some empty houses in Stonecutter-street intended for sale, and one day accompanied a gentleman to them, who had thoughts of purchasing the estate on which they were situated. On entering a room on the first floor, an object of horror attracted their attention, a naked female corpse! Stephens, alarmed beyond expression, fled from the scene; but the other more courageous ascended to the next floor, where he was soon after joined by his terrified attendant, and they discovered a second and a third woman dead, and nearly destitute of clothing; pursuing this dreadful research, they found in the upper story two women, and a girl about eighteen years of age, one of whom, and the latter, appeared emaciated beyond description, but their companion in misery was in better condition. Prudence and humanity dictated that an examination should take place as to the cause of so singular and dreadful an occurrence; in consequence, the survivors were taken into custody, and the ensuing particulars were related by them before the Coroner and his Jury.