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    physician to the London Dispensary , witnessed them with real anguish of mind , aiid lamented his inability to afford relief . He made several appeals to the

    public ; at length , he became happily instrumental of preserving from absolute ruin nearly twelve hundred families . The following letter to a clergyman , is one among a great many , which his humane and benevolent mind

    dictated on the occasion . " Reverend Sir , " Permit me to address you on the present occasion , and to return you my most sincere thanks for your voluntary exertions in behalf of the distressed

    weavers . JJeheve , sir , it is not in the power of language to describe their long and continued miseries ;—miseries not brought on by idleness , intemperance , or a dissolute courstsof life : -but human "wretchedness , absolutely produced by want of employment .

    "My profession obliges me daily to be an eye-witness of the severe distresses , trials , and afflictions of these much to be pitied of our fellow-creatures . Whole families ivitbout Jirey without raiment , and without food \ and , to add to the catalogue of human woes , three , four and five in many families languishing on the bed of sickness .

    ** I am sure , sir , you "will believe me when 1 declare , that such scenes of complicated woe are too affecting to dwell upon : and therefore shall conclude with my most earnest wishes , that , by your pleading in their behalf , other divines

    may be animated to the same pious undertaking ; as J am certain that public benevolence will prevent the premature death of many , will restore health to numbers , and afford the staff of life to thousands of afflicted families .

    I am , Rev . Sir , Your most obedient humble servant ,

    W . HA WES . Physician to the London Dispensary . Spital Square , itov . 16 , 1793 . '* In the year 1796 , Dr .. Lettsom , who had succeeded Mr ,

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    Horsfall , as treasurer of the Hu * mane Society , resigned ; and Dr . Hawes was chosen as his successor . He had previously discharged that part of the treasurer ' s office which consists in examining into

    the claims for rewards and paying them . He still continued his laborious exertions for supporting and extending the influence of the Institution which he had fostered

    with all the attention , assiduity , and interest of a parent . Indeed , a man of less ardour , or zeal , or activity , must have failed in rais- » ing to that degree of eminence ,

    which it now possesses , —the Humane Society of London . The tide of prejudice for many years ran very strong against a set of

    men , who presumed , or pretended , to bring the dead to life . In other institutions , the * subscribers have the means of affording relief

    to some sick or distressed neighbour , or have something to dispose of , some good they can personally confer ; but , in this Institution there is nothing of the

    kind , which has been an obstacle to its establishment . Its patrons and promoters have , it is true , the godlike satisfaction of

    knowing they contribute lowards preserving the lives of many of their fellow creatures from premature death . They have a gratification too , of a very superior kind , afforded them at the anniversary

    festival ; they see men , women , and children , whom they have contributed to rescue from an untimely death , walk in solemn and silent procession , and expressing as they pass , their gratitude to God and to their benefactors . This is one of the most interesting and

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    704 Memoir of Dr . Hawes .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1808, page 704, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1706/page/12/