CHARITY.
(TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR:1
SE,—As a pendant to your excellent article on " Charity " I am tempted to send you these maxims (I) "If you give, give what is your own," was a saying of quaint old Thomas Fuller.
"If you give money, take care that you spend yourself with it," said Thoreau. Another American poet, Lowell, has put the same thought in verse :—
" The Holy Supper is kept indeed
In whatso we share with another's need; Not what we give but what we stare, For the gift without the giver is bare; Who gives himself with his alms feeds three, Himself, his hungering neighbour, and BEE."
(8) Archbishop Egbert said more than a thousand years ago : "Let him that colleeteth immoderate wealth, for his want of wisdom, give a third part to the poor."
(4) Another old meek once concluded a funeral sermon with these words : "You will find no pockets in your shrouds."
(5) "A man may live three days without bread, but no man can lice one day without poatry."
(6) And, lastly, a wise maxim of one of the bravest and kindliest of modern Poor-law reformers, the late Brooke Lambert : "If you decide to give money relief, see that you give adequate relief. You may dole out shillings thoughtlessly, but when it comes to 10a. a week for six weeks you will probably take care that the case you are trying to relieve is a good one." (2)
Deanery, Ely.
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