Mr. Elwes, the Suffolk miser, would have a hard time
of it if he were alive now. He is said to have visited a clergyman once in the vestry after a charity sermon, and complimented him most highly on his eloquence. "In fact," he said, " Mr. Blank, so deeply have you convinced me of the virtue of charity, that I feel almost inclined to turn beggar myself." James Blanchard, of Alton, Hants, is of Mr. Elwes's opinions, but in the pre- sent day they are considered dangerous. He owns land and houses, keeps an account at the savings-bank, saves every- thing he can to swell his store, and in fact believes in the gospel of the nineteenth century. Unfortunately, he thinks so highly of charity that he goes about begging, and on Thursday the Aldershot magistrates sentenced him to twelve months' hard labour. The police suspected him, apparently, of intending to steal, and he had been seven times convicted of larceny, but he was punished this time for begging. If he had cheated share- holders in a civilised manner, he would have been punished only by a rebuke from the Judges, who would at the same time have doubted if a man with capital could intend a fraud.
