Taught wisely to obtain relief It must not, in all parts unsound, Be ripp'd, and pull'd down to the ground; Shall raise a building to compare) Art, if they should their art employ, 30 335 the year 1600, one was issued for Richard Grafton, as appears by a printed copy sold at Sotheby's auction rooms on 13 August, 1840, and in 1604, John Stowe, the historian, obtained one in consideration of his merit and distressed circumstances. In 1623 one was issued for repairing a church at St. Alban's, after which the entries are frequent in parish registers of sums collected after briefs being read. The first mention of them in the statutes was in 9 W. III. c. 25, by which they were exempted from stamp duty. In 1705, an act, passed 4 and 5 Anne, for the better collecting charity money on briefs by letters patent, and preventing abuses in relation to such charities. Such letters patent were issued by the Lord High Chancellor upon a certificate from the quarter sessions, and had ever since the year 1799 been delivered to John Stevenson Salt, Esq. of the firm of Messrs. Stevenson and Salt, bankers in Lombard Street, Mr. Salt was from that period exclusively employed as undertaker for the purpose of dispersing copies of the briefs and receiving the collections, but still it was always competent for any person to whom, or for whose benefit a brief was granted to appoint his own undertaker, Mr. Salt holding no office or permanent appointment. Upon receipt of the letters patent the undertaker provided 10,800 printed copies of church briefs, and 11,500 fire briefs, which he caused to be delivered to the churchwardens of the several parishes in England, and a part of Wales, and upon Batter'd and hasting to decay, To Liberty, whose gracious smile 40 45 their return being obtained, the undertaker accounted to the claimants for the sums collected, after deducting the expenses of obtaining the brief, and his charges of collection. Throughout the 18th century, and up to the time of their abolition in 1828, they averaged about eight or ten in number every year. The net sum received from each brief after payment of all expenses, ranged about £200; in some extraordinary cases, however, much larger amounts were realized; and on one brief in 1759 for founding and erecting colleges in New York and Philadelphia a sum of nearly £10,000 was collected. The fees on soliciting a church brief, were— The undertaker charged double salary for fire and other briefs, his charge therefore in such cases was above £500. Where Nature put forth all her strength Where our brave fathers used to train Their sons to arms, to teach the art Their joints had knit, their nerves had strung; Had, from the time they first drew breath, The undertaker was responsible for every agent and collector throughout the kingdom, and his salary was latterly quite inadequate to the trouble and risk attending the business. This plan of raising money gradually fell into disrepute, and consequent unproductiveness, from an almost universal idea that the briefs were formed by the undertaker, he agreeing to pay the petitioners a certain sum, reserving the benefit of the surplus for himself; so that whatever sum might be collected on a brief over and above such supposed payment was imagined to be paid to him, and therefore, that he and not the petitioners would really profit by any extra benevolence on the part of the public. This prevailing opinion, though wholly unfounded, operated most powerfully against briefs on the minds of the clergy, the churchwardens, and the public; inducing the clergy in some cases not to read the brief, the churchwardens to be negligent in collecting, and the public to be averse from contributing. On the passing of the bill abolishing the issue of briefs, a vast number of small balances, some of very old standing, in Mr. Salt's hands were found in the aggregate to amount to a sum of about £2,000, which by arrangement was appropriately paid over to the Commissioners for building new churches. And Glory sparkled in their eyes. They grasp'd the sword, they shook the spear; Their wives, their mothers, all around, What raptures did the bosom fire 65 70 75 80 85 90 With which hereafter he shall make Gods! with what joy, what honest pride, Though on parades he was not bred, 95 Nor wore the livery of red, When, Pleasure heightening all her charms, And begg'd, whilst love and glory fire, Such were the men in former times, Such were the men who, free from dread, Spread, like a torrent swell'd with rains, From her fair course, and Mercy dead: 100 105 110 115 120 |