“The general death-rate varies from forty to sixty per 1000 per annum; of these deaths the very large proportion of 87.5 per cent. are under five years of age; and nearly all the deaths, I again observe, occur from zymotic diseases. The most appalling fact, however, connected with this subject, and one most likely to make a deep sensation in the public mind, is, that for a period of three years the average age at death is under twelve years.” After this, great efforts were made to get rid of “the swinish multitude” altogether; but the shrewd chimney-sweep, Lake, seems to have foreseen this evil day, and “for the purpose of pig-keeping” had been inserted in the very leases which the people were able to produce; so that nothing but a special Act of Parliament could remedy the existing evil. The number of animals was, however, somewhat reduced; and, by additional drainage and further supplies of fresh water, a decided improvement has been effected. The inhabitants have become much healthier, and for the last year or two the number of deaths has scarcely exceeded the common average. So much for the physical aspect of the district. But another question arises, fraught with still greater interest. What has been done for the people themselves? Surely the moral as well as the physical drainer had work to do here. However scanty may have been the supply of fresh water, the “water of life” was still more scarce. The road to heaven, though it had not to be made for them, had to be pointed out. In the almost entire absence of the observance of the Sabbath and of the means of grace, it is not surprising that a generation should have grown up without God in the world, and to all outward appearance as “far off by wicked works” as any of the heathen nations. When, however, the place began to be frequented by the district visitor, it was found that a few, even there, had from the first feared and honoured God, had kept His Sabbaths in spite of all opposition; and though their cry had been, “Woe is me that I dwell in Meshec,” yet they had held fast their integrity, and, in a few cases, had managed even to establish in their families the daily reading of the Bible and united prayer. I have had the pleasure of conversing with some of these good people; and it might as truly be said of their moral standing, as it was of Saul’s natural height, that “from their shoulders and upwards” they were higher than any of the people. The first girls’ school in the Potteries was established through the benevolent exertions of Lady Mary Fox. Some time after its foundation, a gentleman, who took a deep interest in the improvement of the district, presented a plot of ground on which a spacious national school-room was soon erected. It was, and is still (1859), surrounded by pigstyes. St James’s Church was built in 1845, within a few minutes’ walk of these school-rooms.