135 captive Britons, nine of whom were commanders of vessels, arrived in England from the States of Barbary in 1734, and were presented to the King and the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. The King gave them 100_l._ and several of the nobility and gentry five and ten guineas each, to which sir Charles Wager added 50_l._ They afterwards dined together at Ironmongers' hall. The practice of placing infants in baskets, and those at the doors of opulent persons, was a common trait in the characters of imprudent females previous to 1734; of which the following advertisement will be a forcible illustration: "Last Tuesday evening a female child of about three weeks old was left in a basket at the door of Buckingham-house. The servants would have carried it into the Park; but the case being some time after made known to the Duchess, who was told it was too late to send to the Overseers of the parish, and that the child must perish in the cold without speedy relief; her Grace was touched with compassion, and ordered it to be taken care of. The person who left the letter in the basket, is desired by a penny-post letter to inform whether the child has been baptized; because, if not, her Grace will take care to have it done; and likewise to procure a nurse for it. Her Grace doth not propose that this instance of her tenderness should encourage any further presents of this nature, because such future attempts will be found fruitless." It gives me great pleasure to add, that _dropping_ of children is but little known at present. A charitable institution called the _Stepney feast_, produced a sufficient sum, in 1734, to apprentice 16 boys at 5_l._ each, and to cloath seven, and one poor man. The duke of Bedford, the earl of Litchfield, and admiral Haddock, were three of the eight stewards for the year 1735; when the ensuing verses, set to music by Dr. Green, were sung at the anniversary dinner. "From Zembla's ever icy plain, From where eternal Summer burns, From all the terrors of the main, The wearied Mariner returns. Old Thames extends his parent arms, And all his rising towers shows, To welcome him from War's alarms To glorious ease and sweet repose. Tritons wind their coral shells, And every cliff in echo tells: Thus Britain is grateful, thus Britain bestows For a youth of brave toil, an age of repose[44:A]." The Hospital at Hyde-park corner was instituted Oct. 19, 1733, and has been supported by voluntary contributions from that day to the present; this is one of the many instances which might be produced of the _hereditary_ charity of the inhabitants of London; a species of benevolence silently handed from generation to generation; a bequest not inforced by forms of law, and parchment and seals.