result from the diffusion of a spirit of frugality and forethought among the poor, than the institution of savings' banks, or places of safe, convenient, and advantageous deposit for their smallest savings. They are no longer tempted, from the want of facility of investment, to waste what little they can save from their expenditure in frivolous or idle gratifications. They now feel assured that their savings, and the interest accumulated upon them, will be faithfully preserved to meet their future wants: and as there are very few who are insensible of the blessings of independence, there is no reason to suppose that they will be slow to avail themselves of the means of accumulation now in their power.

All moneys paid into any savings' bank, established according to the provisions of the act, 9 Geo. 4. c. 92., are ordered to be paid into the banks of England and Ireland, and vested in bank annuities or exchequer bills. The interest payable to depositors is not to exceed 2d. per cent. per diem, or 3l. 8s. 54d. per cent. per annum. No depositor can contribute more than 30l., exclusive of compound interest, to a savings' bank in any one year; and the total deposits to be received from any one individual are not to exceed 1504; and whenever the deposits and compound interest accruing upon them, standing in the name of any one individual, shall amount to 2001, no farther interest shall be paid upon such deposit. The number of depositors in savings' banks, in England, Wales, and Ireland, on the 20th of November, 1834, amounted to 499,207, and the deposits to 15,369,8447., giving an average deposit of 30%. 16s. to each. We subjoin

AN ACCOUNT of the Number of Depositors, classified according to the magnitude of their Deposits, and of the total and average Amount of such Deposits, in England, Wales, and Ireland, on the 20th November, 1834.

There is no return of the Scotch savings' banks; at all events, no return has been published.

The well-established system of banking that has long existed in Scotland, and the practice adopted by all the Scotch banks, of receiving deposits of the amount of 10%., and sometimes less, and paying interest on them at about 1 per cent. below the market rate, has

been productive of the greatest benefit. It has, as it were, extended the advantages of the savings' bank system to all classes of the community, and has, in consequence, contributed materially to diffuse a spirit of economy and accumulation among the middle and upper, as well as the lower classes. The aggregate deposits in the different Scotch banks may, at this moment, be estimated at from 20,000,0007. to 25,000,000l., producing an interest of about 24 per cent.: and we believe it may be safely affirmed that, but for the facilities of accumulation afforded by the Scotch banking system, the half of those deposits would never have existed! It is to be regretted that the Bank of England gives no interest on deposits either at the head office in the metropolis, or at any of her branches. Perhaps she has good reasons for declining to undertake the responsibility that the receiving of deposits at interest in the metropolis would, undoubtedly, bring along with it. But if she could, consistently with her own security, receive deposits on the plan followed by the Scotch banks, it would be productive of the greatest advantages; and would do more to promote accumulation than could be done by any other measure it seems practicable to suggest.

Savings' Bank Annuities. - Within these few years government has adopted the principle of selling immediate or deferred annuities, of not less than 47. or more than 20l. a year, to the labouring classes not under 15 years of age. Such annuities are sold under the provisions of the act 3 and 4 Will. 4. c. 14. The purchaser may either pay down the whole sum at once, or he may pay it by weekly, monthly, or yearly instalments. And, to encourage parties to buy, it is provided, that if an individual become unable to continue his payments, or die before the deferred annuity commences, all the sums he has paid are to be returned, without interest, to his executors or family. All negotiations for annuities of this description are to be conducted through savings' banks, and hence their name.

Much, though, as it appears to us, very little deserved, eulogy has been lavished upon this statute. No doubt it was dictated by the best intentions on the part of government, and it may, in various instances, be advantageous to the parties. Still, however, we cannot help considering the principles on which it is bottomed as radically unsound. If government will interfere in such matters, its object ought to be to diffuse a spirit of accumulation and forethought into all classes, and, in as far as possible, to make people live for others as well as for themselves. But the savings' banks annuity act proceeds on entirely opposite principles. So far as it extends, its influence is subversive of accumulation, and goes to encourage the selfish and unsocial propensities, by tempting individuals to consume their whole property during their lifetime, without thinking or caring any thing about those who may come after them. One of the grand objections to the method of borrowing formerly practised in France was, that the debt was principally funded in rentes viagères, or life annuities, and consequently that it tended to keep up and diffuse spendthrift and careless habits. The influence of the system now alluded to, though less in degree, is precisely of the same kind. Had government given facilities to the middle and lower classes for insuring sums for their

wives and children, in the event of their death, it might have been highly advantageous. But the system they have set on foot does not encourage providence, but extravagance; and, if extensively acted upon, would be so very hostile to the public interests that it would have to be put down by legislative interference.

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Private Charities. — Exclusive of the immense sums raised by compulsory assessment, there is no country in which such large sums are voluntarily subscribed for the support and education of the poor as in England. We have already given a statement (see antè, p. 453.) of the annual revenue arising from property left for the benefit of charitable institutions, in those counties of England and Wales, the charitable foundations of which have been investigated by the commissioners. But the income derived from the property so left, though with proper management it would amount to a very large sum, is undoubtedly far below the sums annually expended in voluntary donations to charitable establishments, and in gifts to individuals. In all parts of the country there are hospitals, dispensaries, schools, and all descriptions of miscellaneous charities supported by such means. The very catalogue of the names of such charities in London and other large towns would occupy a considerable space. A good deal of jobbing and abuse is believed to have insinuated itself into not a few of these establishments: but, speaking generally, they are well managed, and have been productive of much good.

CHAPTER IX.-ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

A GREAT portion of Europe was at a remote period inhabited by wandering tribes of Celts, whom we may suppose to have been as uncivilised as the savage tribes who now inhabit the interior of Africa. Their early progress in Britain and Ireland may in some measure be ascertained from the records of history: but the rudest nations, although they furnish materials for history, do not themselves produce historians; and, when all other memorials have utterly decayed, we are sometimes enabled, by the names which they have permanently affixed to some of the great objects of nature, to trace their progress with as much certainty as the hunter of the forest can trace the footsteps of his prey. When we find rivers, mountains, and promontories described by Celtic names, in a country or district where history has never mentioned the settlement of a Celtic horde, we are at no loss to account for such names: we are satisfied with the application of a single hypothesis, and instantly arrive at the conclusion that Celtic names must have been imposed by Celtic inhabitants.

When the Romans invaded the south of Britain, they found the country possessed by people of this generic origin. The invasion took place about fifty-five years before the Christian era; and the in

vaders retained their ascendancy till the commencement of the fifth century. During this interval the Romans imparted to the rude natives some tincture of their own intellectual refinement, but must have left the British language as they found it: the foreign settlers were not sufficiently numerous to produce any change in the speech of the original inhabitants. When the Roman empire was tottering to its fall, the Britons recovered their independence. They divided themselves into many petty states, and exercised many petty animosities, which impaired the national strength, and rendered them an easy prey to foreign invaders. The pirates of Saxony had long been accustomed to make occasional depredations on their coasts. The Picts and Scots, that is, the Goths and Celts of Scotland, infested them from the north; and at length the sense of common danger produced some degree of union in their councils and exertions. In this condition of their affairs, the Saxons obtained a permanent footing in the country. In the year 449, as the Saxon Chronicle informs us, 66 Hengest and Horsa, invited to his aid by Vortigern, King of the Britons, arrived in Britain in the place called Ipwinesfleet: they first came to the assistance of the Britons, but afterwards fought against them. The king directed them to fight against the Picts, and they did so, and were victorious wherever they came. They then sent to the Angles, and desired them to send more assistance, telling them of the worthlessness of the Britons, and the fruitfulness of the land. They then sent to them more assistance; then came men from three provinces of Germany, from the Old Saxons, from the Angles, from the Jutes." *

The Saxons, like other Gothic tribes, derive their origin from a mighty horde which wandered from the east, and gradually overran the best portions of Europe. So early as the time of Ptolemy the geographer, this particular tribe had proceeded as far to the westward as the banks of the Elbe, and their primitive seat was between this river and the Eyder. Although at first they were not very formidable for their numbers, they gradually obtained a powerful ascendancy in Germany. Towards the middle of the third century, they entered into a league with the Franks for the purpose of opposing the Roman arms; and they afterwards enlarged their connections and increased their influence, till it predominated in a territory of great extent, reaching from the Eyder to the Rhine. This wide tract of country was not entirely peopled by Saxons; it included various nations, united by the ties of a kindred origin, and actuated by a sense of common interest or danger; but such was the ascendancy of the Saxons, that they communicated their name to the entire confederacy, which, among other nations, comprehended the Jutes, who inhabited the south of Jutland, and the Angles, who inhabited the adjacent district of Anglen. Hengest and Horsa, the leaders whom we have already mentioned, were not Saxons, but Jutes. The subsequent emigrants were for the most part Angles,

Saxon Chronicle, p. 14. Ingram's edit, Lond. 1823, 4to. See likewise Mr. Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons, and Dr. Bosworth's Elements of Anglo-Saxon Grammar, p. 279. Lond. 1823, 8vo.

and their descendants were long distinguished by the appellation of Anglo-Saxons. The first part of the name denotes the predominant tribe; the second denotes the original relation of that tribe to the Saxon confederacy. The new country which they acquired was denominated Engla-land, or the land of the Angles. These German invaders established themselves in the most fertile districts, and gradually displaced the Celtic inhabitants, till at length they were chiefly confined to the fastnesses of Wales, where the prevalence of the ancient language still indicates the continuance of their race. Eight new states were formed by the Anglo-Saxons, who maintained their independence till the year 1016, when they were subjected to the yoke of a Danish conqueror. Canute and his two sons, Harold and Hardicanute, reigned in England for the space of 26 years. A Danish court, and a Danish army, with other settlers, must have had some influence on the common speech, especially as the language of the conquerors was not very dissimilar to that of the conquered. But the laws and other public documents continued to be written in the Saxon tongue, and this new dynasty soon finished its course. The Saxon line of kings, which was restored in 1042, terminated in 1066, when Harold II. was slain at the battle of Hastings, and William Duke of Normandy ascended the throne of England. The Saxon dominion had thus continued for the best part of three centuries; and, as the great body of the people were still of this race, it is obvious that their national language must have survived their political power. A writ in the Anglo-Saxon tongue was issued by Henry the Third, who began his reign in the year 1216.*

In the language spoken by this ancient people, a great variety of literary reliques has been preserved. "The Anglo-Saxon literature," says Professor Rask, "possesses, in many respects, even for its own sake, no small degree of interest. The numerous ancient laws throw considerable light upon the laws of the old Germans and Scandina vians, as well as upon their customs and civil institutions. † The old chronicles and genealogies are important sources for the ancient history of the Low German and the Scandinavian nations. The various documents illustrate much in English history. Even the theological remains, showing the constitution and doctrine of the ancient church, are not devoid of value for ecclesiastical history, especially to the modern English and Scottish churches. The translation of several parts of the Scripture may likewise be advantageously employed in biblical researches. But of all, the poetical pieces are the most interesting, especially the great Anglo-Saxon poem, in forty-three cantos, published at Copenhagen, in 1815, by the Royal Archivarius G. J.

Dr. Wallis has made the following remark on the conqueror's attempt to introduce the Norman language: "Non autem quod aggressus erat, est assecutus; quippe quod Normannorum qui huc advenerant, si ad Anglos quibus immiscebantur comparentur, exiguus erat numerus, qui ideo suam citius amiserunt linguam quam Anglicanam immutare potuerint. (Grammatica Linguæ Anglicana, p. xx. edit.

Lond. 1765, 8vo.)

+ See Dr. Phillips's Versuch einer Darstellung der Geschichte des Angelsächsischen Rechts. Göttingen, 1825, 8vo.