Not a few persons and families, however, are bitterly regretting the one that is just past.

We are told by those who dare to call themselves " THE FRIENDS of the poor," that by suppressing these places and these amusements, we are abridging the poor of their comforts and pleasures. After making the fullest allowance for the existing and necessary variety of tastes and habits, we ask THE FRIEND or rather THE ENEMY of the poor, what is it we prevent the poor Xman enjoying, and what injury do we inflict upon him? Is

X

it unkind to keep him from drunkenness and low company ? Is it unkind to keep his daughters and sons away from scenes which would familiarize them with indecency and lead them to crime? Is it unkind to preserve the servants of a neighbourhood from a set of men who frequent these places purposely to accomplish the ruin of the thoughtless, and who do it by first drinking and dancing with them and other allurements, and then leave them to their fate? Are scenes of lewdness, dissipation, folly, and crime, the comforts which any true friend to the humbler classes would plead for? He could not. We love the poor. We are labouring for the poor. Our object is to have them educated, to advance their domestic and social happiness, and to bless them with that Gospel which will make them wise unto salvation, and those great principles which will make them better masters and servants, better parents and children, better husbands and wives, and better members of society.

When the "New Police Bill was passed, some of "the friends of the poor" raised an outcry against it; but they are now silenced by the comparative decency in our public streets on the Sabbath morning; by the increased comfort of the poor in their houses; and many a wife, and family of children, are thankful that the husband and father sleeps in his own bed on the Saturday night, and that the money formerly spent at the public-house now furnishes the table on the Sabbath with comforts to which before they were entire strangers.

We own it with grief and shame, that the poor have been too much neglected, and even now the Christian portion of the metropolis is not sufficiently alive to the education of the poorto their social state-to their possession of the Gospel, and to their attendance upon the means of grace. If they are neglected or comparatively neglected by Christians, is it not reasonable to think that they will listen to those who will notice them and show them any kindness?

But it may be asked, what can be done specifically for Camberwell? We answer, that the Committee of the London City Mission will immediately prepare a memorial setting forth some facts, and have it signed by the clergy, the ministers, and some of the inhabitants of Camberwell, and present it to the Commissioners of Police, who have power by the New Police Act to inquire into

all fairs held in the metropolis, and to take means either for their strict regulation or their total suppression.

The following is the clause of the Act to which we refer :

"XXXIX. And be it enacted, That if it shall appear to the Commissioners of Police that any fair usually holden within the metropolitan police district has been holden without lawful authority, or that any fair lawfully holden within the said district has been usually holden for a longer period than is so warranted, it shall be competent to such Commissioners to direct one of the superintendents belonging to the metropolitan police force to summon the owner or occupier of the ground upon which such fair is usually holden to appear before a magistrate at a time and place to be specified in the summons, not less than eight days after the service of the summons, to show his right and title to hold such fair, or to hold such fair beyond a given period (as the case may be); and if such owner or occupier shall not attend in pursuance of such summons, or shall not show to the magistrate who shall hear the case sufficient cause to believe that such fair has been lawfully holden for the whole period during which the same has been usually holden, the magistrate shall declare in writing such fair to be unlawful, either altogether or beyond a stated period (as the case may be); and the Commissioners shall give notice of such declaration by causing copies thereof to be affixed on the parish church and on other public places in and near the ground where such fair has been usually holden; and if, after such notices have been affixed for the space of six days, any attempt shall be made to hold such fair if it shall be declared altogether unlawful, or to hold it beyond the prescribed period if it shall be declared unlawful beyond a certain period, the Commissioners of police may direct any constable to remove every booth, standing, and tent, and every carriage of whatsoever kind conveyed to or being upon the ground for the purpose of holding or continuing such fair, and to take into custody every person erecting, pitching, or fixing, or assisting to erect, pitch, or fix, any such booth, standing, or tent, and every person driving, accompanying, or conveying in every such carriage, and every person resorting to such ground with any show or instrument of gambling or amusement; and every person convicted before a magistrate of any of the offences last aforesaid shall be liable to a penalty not more than ten pounds."

The memorial alluded to shall be presented for signature as soon as possible, and we hope that there will be a cordial and united effort to obtain not the abatement merely, but the destruction, of such a nuisance.

COPY OF A CIRCULAR SENT BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE "MARKETS' COMMITTEE" TO ALL PERSONS WHO HAVE HAD STALLS, BOOTHS, ETC., AT BARTHOLOMEW FAIR.

SIR,-In consequence of numerous complaints of the nuisance and obstruction to business occasioned by Bartholomew fair, the Corporation have come to a resolution to limit its duration within the period for which it was formerly held, and otherwise to regulate the fair.

I have, therefore, to inform you that the fair will not be proclaimed at midnight as has been for some time the case, and that no stalls whatever will be permitted to be erected till the morning of Thursday, the third of September, and the fair will be open during the afternoon of that day, the whole of Friday, the fourth, and to such a reasonable period of Saturday, the fifth, as will enable all parties to remove their stalls, &c., without encroaching on the Sunday.

I am likewise directed to inform you that booths for the exhibition of plays, interludes, pantomimes, and all other theatrical representations, will henceforth be entirely excluded from the fair. I am, Sir,

Smithfield, July 23, 1840.

Your obedient servant,

EXTRACTS FROM THE MONTHLY REPORTS OF THE MISSIONARIES.

** If our readers will kindly substitute the word FLOUR for the word floor, in our Magazine for July, at page 103, line 21 from the top, the sense and accuracy of the narrative will be restored.

RESTORATION OF THE FALLEN.

one

I RECEIVED a somewhat interesting letter from Mary of those unhappy females whose case I have noticed in my journal, having met with her in the lodging-house adjoining, and afterwards in the sick ward, St. George's Workhouse. At her own request I visited her there, and gave her a Testament and Psalter, which she read daily, and I hope to a good purpose. She was removed to her own parish, at Guildford, in Surrey, where she now is in the Union Workhouse, and is restored to the enjoyment of the blessing of health; she very gratefully acknowledges

the assistance rendered to her at that time, especially for the Testament, which she says is her whole and sole companion, as from that book she is enabled to entertain a hope of mercy.

ANOTHER CASE.

Ann -, (whose case appears in my journal,) called on me to express her gratitude for my efforts in rescuing her from destruction, and also to inform me that she was married to a young man at Cheltenham, where she had been sent. Mr. G, who is her husband, is a journeyman baker, and now working in After a few weeks Mrs. Greturned to London, and they are now residing at where her husband wished to see me, so that I might be satisfied. She went with me to the Secretary of the Society for the Prevention of Juvenile Prostitution, who had assisted greatly in sending her out of London. Mr. Talbot was much pleased with her general behaviour. On the evening of the 28th I went to visit them at and was most kindly received by Mr. G- who thanked me for all my endeavours for the good of his wife, and hoped ever to acknowledge it as kindness to him. The Testament given while in brought for my use (I was pleased to find she brought it back to London with her). I read and expounded part of the seventh chapter of the 1st Corinthians, and commended them to God in prayer, and advised them not to live without seeking God in public worship as well as in private. Mr. G was expecting to have every alternate Sunday, as his employer thought one man to attend the bakings on Sundays would do. I hope they will soon participate in the blessings of a renewed nature. They both seem willing to be instructed, and wish to see me when I can make it convenient to call.

ARE YOU PREPARED TO DIE?

was

I have met with one case where a tract has been very useful. A young woman named -, residing at had been seduced about twelvemonths ago, and continued to live in a state of prostitution until a friend of mine gave her the tract, "Are you prepared to die?" This tract made a powerful impression upon her mind; she told him she should be glad to get into an asylum; but I am thankful to find that she is now comfortably settled with her family. I admonished her to give herself up to her Saviour, read the Scriptures with her, and commended her in prayer to God.

THE NEGLECTED FOUND AND BLESSED.

is worthy of notice.

This man

Mr. T.'s case, of No. 8, was put to a boarding-school when he was young, but he received very little religious instruction. He continued to live without attending the means of grace, became a drunkard, and knew nothing of the way of salvation until he was visited by your missionary. He was at length, however, convinced of his state, not

merely as a dying, but as a condemned sinner; he was often much affected while I was reading and praying with him. He said, he could now see that his whole life had been a life of sin; "No one knows," he said, "but myself what I suffer on account of it; how I feel my need of that instruction which I have lost. Oh, Sir, do come and see me every day if you can; I know I shall not be long here; you was the first who told me of the love of Jesus; and I long to see you as often as I can; I knew nothing of the way of salvation till you explained it to my understanding." I read and explained part of the fifteenth chapter of St. Luke. It was very affecting to see how earnestly he would catch at every word which seemed to speak of the mercy of God. I left him the tract, "The Ground on which Sinners can come to the Holy God." He had read this tract, he said, twenty times; it was the best book he had ever seen; he had been praying over it ever since, and said, "I have been thinking much of the goodness of God in sending such gentlemen as you to explain these things to poor dying sinners like me; there were hundreds who went into eternity without ever having these things explained to them: what should I have done now if you had not attended to me as you have done. I should never have known how my sins could have been forgiven; but you have directed me to the Saviour." I had been speaking to him, on a former visit, of the duty of forgiving every one who might have offended or injured him in any way: and the last visit but one which I paid him, he told me he had been living at variance with his sister-in-law for about six years, but he could not bear that any longer; and he sent for her and her children in order to be reconciled. They came, and that burden had been removed from his mind, and he now felt himself at peace with God, and with all the world; and added, "I may thank you for it." I said, " My friend, you must thank God for it." "Yes," he said, "but God sent it by you, I knew nothing of it till you came and told me about Jesus." He died, I hope, in peace. He was about forty-four years of age.

VISITS TO A LODGING-HOUSE.

I visited a lodging-house, No. 1, where four Irishmen were at cards on the Sabbath-day, who forsook the cards, and heard attentively what I had to say. On another Sabbath I visited the same house; there were present eight men and three women, all Irish. The first subject of conversation was Father Mathew, and his progress in Ireland, which was started by their asking me when he was expected in London. They seemed anxious for him to come, and inclined to join him. As opportunity offered, I introduced the more important subject of religion. Read the thirteenth chapter of 1st Corinthians, and spoke a few words on it, and then proposed prayer, as the only means of obtaining an interest in that Saviour without whom we could