Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 436 - Volume 17, New Series, May 8, 1852 by Various
page 52 of 68 (76%)
page 52 of 68 (76%)
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through the smoke and damp of centuries--down to the days of Queen
Victoria, and the donations of last Christmas, fresh and glittering from the hands of the gilder. Thus, the interesting old church of St Bartholomew the Great is lined with the eleemosynary exploits of the worshipful Ironmongers' Company, whose multitudinous banners of black and gold are in abominable discordance with the severe and simple architecture of the ancient edifice. 'Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth,' is a monition apparently not much in repute among the corporate companies. The reader may gather from the perusal of the above desultory examples, selected from a mass of similar ones, some idea of the enormous amount of the funds, intended for benevolent purposes, which Christian men have bequeathed to the world; and they may perhaps serve to enlighten the curious observer on the subject of some of the unobtrusive phenomena which occasionally excite his admiration and arouse his conjecture. They are the silent charities of men in the silent land. How much good they do, and how much harm, and on which side the balance is likely to lie--these are questions which for the present we have neither time nor space to discuss. FOOTNOTES: [2] See _Chambers's Pocket Miscellany_, vol. iv. LABOUR STANDS ON GOLDEN FEET. |
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