In the present age the good old-fashioned mode of bequeathing some portion of worldly substance for the education or relief of the poor is recognized by very few of our wealthier fellow-countrymen. The usual channels of relief to the poor and needy—the Poor-Law Union, the Night Asylum, the Good Samaritan Society, and other institutions of like class—are excellent in their way, and diffuse much benefit and comfort among the aged and indigent; but still our ancient charities, especially our schools and almshouses, whilst they secure to their recipients permanent, not precarious good, shed a brilliant lustre over the land, and denote the kind and benignant spirit of many of our ancestors. Would that the old benevolent English spirit were revived among us, and that all affluent men, who have possessed their money by inheritance, or obtained it by the force of their talents, or success in trade or commerce, would, among their testamentary bequests, never fail to “remember the poor.” Then should we have comfortable asylums for many hoary-headed men and women, who, reduced by misfortune, or overwhelmed by the distressing calamities of life, have no place of quiet shelter—no resting-place in which to pass the residue of their days. The following list of Charitable Donations, left for the benefit of the poor of Oswestry, shows that in days gone by, the weak were not overlooked by the strong, and that many, imbued with practical Christian benevolence, deemed it their duty to aid, not only the poor of their own days, but those also of succeeding generations. The only Aims-Houses in the town are those situated near the turnpike-gate in Willow-Street. They are six in number, and were left by Dame Ellen, widow of Sir Francis Eure. Mrs. Jane Owen, in 1732, bequeathed to the twelve poor persons (six men and six women), inmates of the alms-houses, the sum of 18s. to be paid to them yearly, for ever, and also ordered her executor to charge her real and personal estate with the payment thereof. Mrs. M. Ormsby, by her will in 1805, requested her daughter (the present Mrs. Ormsby Gore), and those who should succeed her in the Porkington Estate, would pay “as she had done,” the poor people in the alms-houses for ever. Mrs. Ormsby Gore regularly distributes £3 among the inmates on Christmas-Day, that being the sum her mother had previously given. The alms-houses are kept in good repair by Mrs. Ormsby Gore, and she selects the inmates.