FOR IMPROVING THE CONDITION OF THE INDUSTRIOUS CLASSES, BY ESTABLISHING FRIENDLY SOCIETIES AND SAVINGS' BANKS, IN CO-OPERATION WITH EACH OTHER; ACCOMPANIED BY A SET OF RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR EACH; AND ALSO BY ABSTRACTS FROM THE TWO LAST ACTS OF PARLIAMENT WHICH REGULATE THE SAME. BY HENRY GREGSON, Of Lancaster, Solicitor. LONDON: J. HATCHARD AND SON, 187, PICCADILLY. MDCCCXXX. "We have both speculated in the joy and freedom of our youth the possible improvements of society." upon SOUTHEY. LONDON: PRINTED BY T. BRETTELL, RUPERT STREET, HAYMARKET. TO THE MOST NOBLE THE MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE, &c. &c. &c. MY LORD, If the value of the following Work depended on its literary merits, I should not have ventured to place this performance under the immediate notice of your Lordship's discerning judgment. But my aim being to point out a simple and practical method (tried by myself on a small scale) of ameliorating the condition, and of increasing the comforts of the most numerous portion of the community, by which the general prosperity of the country must be greatly promoted, I have not been able to select any patron more conspicuous for an admirable a combination of philanthropy with philosophy: more especially as your Lordship was principally instrumental in the formation of the first Savings' Bank established in this country. And I consider the polite and obliging sanction of your Lordship's name to be a certain passport to the attention and approbation of the public. |