misery, and wished they might wake no more. One had a virtuous sister married-her only relative-but that sister would not see her, dreading lest her husband should know that she had such a profligate relative. The other had an aged mother, a very poor good woman, living near Oxford-street; but she was connected with a Christian Church, and feared if it were known that her child was so wicked, the Christian friends would withdraw their support. The Missionary went to the sister and mother and learned the correctness of this statement. He directed the poor creatures to Him who is the friend of sinners, and as he did so, Oh, how did they appear to look at him as "Friend of the wretch whom every friend forsakes." They were gotten, after much difficulty, into the Asylum in the Hackney-road, where they gave good proof that their penitence was sincere; and one of them called on me last week, whom I did not at first remember, not having seen her for two years. She told me her name, and recalled the circumstances to my mind. A kind lady in St. James's parish (I dare not give her name, though I should like, for it deserves to be known that she may be loved by all and imitated by many), took her from the Asylum, in whose service she has lived about twelve months, and who has promised to be her constant friend. She expressed her gratitude to Mr. Pearce, to the Mission, to the matron of the asylum, to her mistress, and to Him who had influenced them all, in strains that I wish every subscriber to the Mission could have heard. She is privileged by her good mistress to attend canstantly at Orange-street Chapel, and has heard not only with pleasure but profit. Is not this a brand plucked from the burning? She informed me that her companion is married. On my expressing my hopes that it was really so, she told me that the matron had been the girl's constant friend and adviser, and that the marriage had taken place not only with her sanction, but in her

presence.

The present Missionary in this district, has been made extensively useful, and that in a way not thought of until he came; and truly there is as great diversity in the talents of the Missionaries as in the countries of which they are natives, or the denomination of Christians to which they belong;-for the four Missionaries in Westminster are Welsh, Irish, Scotch, and English, as to birth; and Independent, Wesleyan, Baptist, and Presbyterian, as to denomination. Yet I think it would be a difficult task for any one to tell to what denomination or country they belong from their labours or their success. All have been extensively useful; but if any, after reading the description of their districts and their works, should be inclined to make the effort, I shall be happy to tell them if they are right in their conjectures.

The present agent was visiting one Sunday afternoon, when he opened the door of a cellar and found it nearly filled with people. It was a dark hole underground, and by the light of the fire, and the

pipes they were smoking, he discovered between thirty and forty men, women, and children. They were beggars, trampers, streetsingers, vagrants, &c., who could not pursue their callings on the Sunday, and were therefore here. Some were playing cards, some

eating potatoes, some drinking tea, and here and there a favoured one had a red herring. No one that we ever saw in subsequent visits exceeded that luxury. The place was what is called a Travellers' House. Here each individual pays his or her twopence for a lodging, and has a night's rest on straw: they lay down to rest indiscriminately-men and girls, women and boys, dirty or clean, just as they happen to come in, without distinction of sex or age; and the Saturday night inmates have the privilege of the cellar and the fire on the Sunday. This motley group would have startled one whose nerves were less strong than those of your Missionary. He, however, stood awhile to survey them, and then said, "He called just to see if they had got the Testament he left some time back. The landlord answered, "Yes, up stairs." He then asked, "If they had read it that day?" Being answered in the negative, he said, "Oh, then, he would read a chapter to them." He did so, and spoke to them from it, and then invited them to pray. They, to his surprise, knelt down; and when he had done, said, "It was very kind of him. When would he come again ?" He found out no less than fourteen of these places in his district before unknown; and often have I gone with him and been treated with attention and respect, and seen the thankfulness of the people to him for his visits. It is not possible for him to attend to more than four of these lodging-houses in one afternoon; and I have been with him when persons from some houses have ran after him, begging he would come to them next, for it must be their turn, because he had not been there for two or three weeks. several occasions he has met with violent men-Infidels-the general tone of whose argument is, that religion is priestcraft; that persons preach because they are well paid for it; and that it is an idle way of living luxuriously at the expense of those who labour by the sweat of their brow to support them; and they generally adduce instances of idleness, luxury, or vice, which they think to be quite unanswerable. But the visitor is able to point to himself as having no interest of his own to serve, and to tell them of the happiness he has tasted and felt from peace of consciencefriendship with God-and hope of a blissful immortality; and frequently the bulk of the poor persons present have entreated that no offence might be taken at the opposition, but that the agent would come again. In one of these wretched holes in Orchard-street, one Sunday afternoon, when we asked after the landlord, who was absent, we were told that he had broken his arm and was in the hospital; but he had desired them to ask the Missionary, when he came, to pray for him, which he accordingly did, and all the people responded a hearty "Amen!" to the petitions.

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There is no danger of insult or ill usage in visiting these places, but rather, lest from the religious awe with which many of them look at you and regard the services, they should make you think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. We are much mistaken in our ideas with regard to the state of mind of the miserable and wretched class of persons we are speaking of. They look at God as a being of awe and dread: they dare not, in the way of prayer, approach him; and it is the hardest thing possible to light up hope in their bosoms, and lead them to see that he is good, and ready to forgive-waiting to be gracious; and when they see you approach him as a father and a friend, and address him with confidence in his mercy and his love, as revealed and displayed in the gift of his dear Son, they are ready, as they rise from their knees, to look at you as a superior order of being, and consider you to have attained a friendship and intimacy with the Deity, far beyond the common lot of mortals. Though the Missionary has much to encourage him, still he has to go forth bearing precious seed weeping. The promise is however sure, and many, many instances attest it in this neighbourhood already: that as the snow and the rain cometh down from heaven and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud; so the Word of the Lord shall not return void, but shall accomplish his pleasure, and prosper in the thing whereto he hath sent it; and while some instances discourage him, they should surely stimulate us to more fervent prayer for him, and to increased exertion, and more continued effort-to send forth many more labourers into the vineyard-to employ not only these means, but every other God has placed within our reach, to dispel the mists of ignorance and superstition, vice, and depravity, until all our neighbours know the Lord, from the least to the greatest.

I have not spoken of the effects of the distribution of the Scriptures, the closing of the public-houses on a portion of the Sunday, and on other matters; but I will detail these in a future

paper.

EXTRA LABOURS.

WE sincerely thank God that the recent efforts made for lessening and preventing metropolitan iniquity, have been so successful, and that the disgrace attaching to the Christians of London for not testifying against certain public crimes, at an earlier period, and endeavouring to prevent them, exists no longer.

FAIRLOP FAIR,

So long the unmolested scene of Sabbath profanation and de

bauchery, is virtually abolished. In our last number we published the NOTICE by the Commissioner of the Police, and the copy of the DECLARATION, signed by the Magistrates, limiting the fair to the first Friday in July; and we have now to inform our readers that the law has been enforced, and that the Sabbath has not been desecrated as in former years. Eight Missionaries were present on the Friday distributing tracts, and eight also on the Sabbathday; but instead of 60,000 or 70,000 persons being present, as was the case last year, there were not more than 5,000 the whole day. The managers of the Eastern Counties Railway, expecting a crowd of visitors, erected barricades at the entrance to their station, but they were totally unnecessary, for not 700 passengers went by the railroad during the whole day. The following is an extract from the Report of one of the Missionaries, relative to the Sabbath :

"On this day (Sunday), having spent an hour in special prayer for the Divine blessing on our efforts, accompanied by eight of the brethren, two of whom having been previously left at the railroad, I proceeded to the fair, on arriving at which a scene of desolation presented itself very unlike to that exhibited on former occasions. Most of the booths were lying on the ground-save here and there, a booth for the sale of tea and coffee-all appeared a general wreck. Some of the booths were dismantled by the police, owing to the refractoriness of their occupants, to whom the task of removing, or even packing up, was almost insupportable. I remarked at different times of the day, about a dozen of the police, mounted and armed, parading the fair to see that the orders which had been previously given for the suppression of all trading, were rigorously enforced. Much swearing and cursing was to be heard from the keepers of these stalls, one of whom wished that all the Teetotallers, Methodists, and the Tract Society, were all burning on the forest. Throughout the whole of the day the order that was observed was remarkable. The donkeys were driven from the ground; ginger-bread and other temporary stalls shared the same fate: indeed, the forbearance and good conduct of the police, in the midst of abuse and insult, was highly praiseworthy, and reflected great credit to themselves and their superiors in office, several of whom were present."

BARTHOLOMEW FAIR.

Since our last publication, the important decision of the Markets' Committee respecting Bartholomew fair, has been reported to the Court of Common Council, and is now referred back again to the Committee to carry into execution their own recommendations. With much pleasure we transfer the Report to our pages, with some extracts from the valuable document prepared for the Markets' Committee, by Mr. Charles Pearson.

"Marshall, Mayor.

"A Common Council holden in the Chamber of the Guildhall of "the City of London, on Thursday, the 2d day of July, 1840. "The Markets' Committee did this day deliver into this Court a Report in writing under their hands, on the reference of the "26th day of September last, in relation to Bartholomew fair, “which was read, agreed to, and referred back to the Committee "to be carried into execution, and the same is as follows:

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"To the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and "Commons, of the City of London, in Common Council "assembled.

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“We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, your Committee appointed for the management and control of the markets of "this city, to whom, on the 26th day of September last, it was "referred to examine the allegations in the memorial of the "Committee of the London City Mission, complaining of the “nuisance arising from Bartholomew fair, and requesting this "Honourable Court to take the necessary means for suppressing "the same, do certify, that we proceeded in the said reference, “and have been attended by several of the memorialists, and “heard them thereon, when they explained the objectionable 66 6 scenes which took place at the recent fair; we therefore re"ferred it to Mr. Solicitor to consider the power of the Corpora"tion in relation thereto, and he has since presented to us a 66 6 Report thereon, a copy whereof we have caused to be here“❝unto annexed for the information of this Honourable Court; and 66 6 we your Committee having duly considered the same, are of "opinion that the suggestions made therein should be adopted, "and that it should be referred back to us to give such directions as we may be advised for giving effect to the same, and for the purpose of reducing the nuisance complained of. All which 66 6 we submit to the judgment of this Honourable Court.

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The following are some extracts from the very able Report of the City Solicitor::

"To the Worshipful the Committee for the Management and "Control of the several Markets of the City of London.

“Gentlemen,—I have, in obedience to your order, the honour "to report to your Worshipful Committee, my opinion as to the "right of the Corporation of London to suppress Bartholomew fair, or otherwise to remove the nuisances and obstructions to "trade, to which it gives rise.

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