nse of a military force in their settlements, to be maintained in
them, in lieu of a battalion of his majesty's forces withdrawn from
those forts and factories; for the maintenance and support of the forts
on the coast of Africa; for widening the avenues, and rendering more
safe and commodious the streets and passages leading from Charing Cross
to the two houses of parliament, the court of justice, and the new
bridge at Westminster.***

* Nothing could more gloriously evince the generosity of a
British parliament, than this interposition for defending
the liberties of Germany, in conjunction with two electors
only, against the sense of the other seven, and in direct
opposition to the measures taken by the head of the empire,
who, in the sequel, stigmatized these two princes as rebels,
and treated one of them as an outlaw.

** This charity, established by voluntary contribution,
might, under proper restrictions, prove beneficial to the
commonwealth, by rescuing deserted children from misery and
death, and qualifying them for being serviceable members of
the community; but since the liberality of parliament hath
enabled the governors and corporation to receive all the
children that are presented, without question or limitation,
the yearly expense hath swelled into a national grievance,
and the humane purposes of the original institution are, in
a great measure, defeated. Instead of an asylum for poor
forlorn orphans and abandoned foundlings, it is become a
general receptacle for the offspring of the dissolute, who
care not to work for the maintenance of their families. The
hospital itself is a plain edifice, well contrived for
economy and convenience, standing on the north side of the
city, and a little detached from it, in an agreeable and
salubrious situation. The hall is adorned with some good
paintings, the chapel is elegant, and the regulations are
admirable.

*** The bridge at Westminster may be considered as a
national ornament. It was built at the public expense, from
the neighbourhood of Westminster Hall to the opposite side
of the river, and consists of thirteen arches, constructed
with equal elegance and simplicity.

Such were the articles under which we may specify the supplies of this
year, on the whole amounting to eight millions three hundred and fi