Meat that's left, 'tis a very good poor Woman
in the Neighbourhood big with Child, her Husband is lately dead, a
profuse, lazy Fellow, that has left nothing but a Stock of Children.

_Ti._ Christ has commanded _to give to every one that asks_; but if I
should do so, I should go a begging myself in a Month's Time.

_Eu._ I suppose Christ means only such as ask for Necessaries: For to
them who ask, nay, who importune, or rather extort great Sums from
People to furnish voluptuous Entertainments, or, which is worse, to feed
Luxury and Lust, it is Charity to deny; nay, it is a Kind of Rapine to
bestow that which we owe to the present Necessity of our Neighbours,
upon those that will abuse it; upon this Consideration it is, that it
seems to me, that they can scarcely be excus'd from being guilty of a
mortal Sin, who at a prodigious Expence, either build or beautify
Monasteries or Churches, when in the mean Time so many living Temples of
Christ are ready to starve for Want of Food and Clothing, and are sadly
afflicted with the Want of other Necessaries. When I was in _England_, I
saw St. _Thomas_'s, Tomb all over bedeck'd with a vast Number of Jewels
of an immense Price, besides other rich Furniture, even to Admiration; I
had rather that these Superfluities should be apply'd to charitable
Uses, than to be reserv'd for Princes, that shall one Time or other make
a Booty of them. The holy Man, I am confident, would have been better
pleas'd, to have his Tomb adorn'd with Leaves and Flowers. When I was in
_Lombardy_, I saw a Cloyster of the _Carthusians_, not far from _Pavia_;
the Chapel is built from Top to Bottom, within and without, of white
Marble, and almost all that is in it, as Altars, Pillars, and Tombs, are
all Marble. To what Purpose was it to be at such a vast Expence upon a
Marble Temple, for a few solitary Monks to sing in? And 'tis more
Burthen to them than Use too, for they are perpetually troubled with
Strangers, that come thither, only out of mere Curiosity, to see the
Marble Temple. And that, which is yet more ridiculous, I was told there,
that there is an Endowment of three thousand Ducats a Year for keeping
the Monastery in Repair. And there are some that think that it is
Sacrilege, to convert a Penny of that Money to any other pious Uses,
contrary to the Intention of the Testator; they had rather pull down,
that they may rebuild, than not go on with building. I thought meet to
mention these, being something mo