Reverend Brother,
HIS Majesty has been Graciously pleased, as you will observe by the foregoing Letter, to anticipate the usual Time for dispensing the annual Royal Bounty to the poorer sort of People in and about this great and populous City, to the end that they may be relieved at the dead time of the Year, when their Necessities are most pressing, and they least able to help themselves: My Duty it is, as you see, to require of you, that his Majesty's Letter be read in your Church the first Lord's Day after the Date of it: And it is yours, to take the Occasion to move your Hearers in the most pressing manner, not only to render Thanks to God for this Pious and Charitable Example, which his Majesty is pleased to give them, but also to imitate it, according to the Ability wherewith the Lord had blessed them. They can scarce need, at least it is not possible you can want Arguments to convince them of the Duty of being ready to give, and glad to distribute; of the great Danger of with-holding their Charity, and even dispensing it grudgingly and of necessity, and of the many Blessings promised in the Word of God to the liberal and chearful Giver. Upon these Heads you will therefore take Care to enlarge, and be very earnest with your Hearers; as also in your Prayers to God for his Blessing, as well upon your Endeavours, as upon all those whose Charity shall be stirred up by them. I must also request of you to notifie to those appointed to make these Collections, that they use all requisite Diligence, and that without delay what they have gathered be paid in; to the End the Distribution be made so soon and seasonably, as to answer his Majesty's pious Intention, and the Needs of those that are to partake of his Charity.
JOH. LONDON.

His LETTER also soon after to his Clergy within the Bills of Mortality, to send in their Collections, was as follows.

REVEREND BRETHREN,
I Can't but hope you have already complied with his Majesty's Pleasure, lately signified to you, and earnestly recommended and pressed the making of speedy Collections for the Relief of the Poorer sort in and about this City: But it not yet appearing, that the Dispatch required in transmitting those Collections into the Chamber of London, in order to a speedy Distribution thereof, has been used; I think it my Duty to put you in mind, that (as you have been told) his Majesty's Gracious Intention is, That as well his own Royal Bounty, as the Charity collected in your Parishes, should, without any delay, be applied to the Relief of the Necessitous, in this rigorous Season of the Year, and Time of their great Need. And accordingly I can't but be very earnest with you to take all possible Care that the said Collections be paid in, on or before the Fifteenth Day of the next following Month, and that the same be done not only in Part, as in some Places has been practised, but in the Whole, according to the true Amount of the Collector's Lists; to the end that the Light of this pious Work be not diminished by defective Returns, to the Dishonour of God, and the Disparagement of the Charity of this great City.

To prevent this Abuse, I think it most advisable that You, together with three or four of the principal Inhabitants of your Parish, to be chosen by a Vestry, or in other proper manner, do call for the Lists of the said Collections, and observe the Amount thereof, and take Care that the Whole be paid in to the Chamber of London, without any Defalcation upon what Pretext soever.

I must also add, that I very much wish and hope that You, my Brethren, together with the said three or four of the principal Inhabitants of your Parish, will in the mean time be forming a List of the several poor Housekeepers and others, in your respective Parishes, for whose present Relief this Charity is designed; to the end, that when the Sum to be allotted to your Parish shall be ordered and received, you and the said principal Inhabitants may be ready, immediately to subdivide and distribute it to the Parties.

And let it enter into your Hearts to believe and be assured, that this your Labour of Love will find a gracious Acceptance with our good God, to whose Mercy and Protection I commit you, and am,
Reverend Brethren,     
Somerset House, Your Affectionate Brother,     
Dec. 29, 1715.
JOH. LONDON.

THE King's Annual Bounty towards the Relief of poor Housekeepers in and about the Cities of London and Westminster, is about 1000l. which with 900l. collected for the same Purpose in the City and Suburbs, Ann. 1717, was distributed in the Month of March.

For the better providing for the Poorer sort in respect of their Firing, in the Winter Season especially, this notable Care was taken by an Act of Common Council, in the Year 1665, to this Tenour: That for a constant Store and Provision of Seacoal, for supply of the City, and especially for the Benefit of the Poor in Time of Dearth and Scarcity, (which hath often happened by reason of Wars and Troubles at Sea, or by the subtil Practices and Combinations of Retailers at Home, for their private Gain and Profit) it was Enacted, That, besides the general Stock employed by this City for Provision of Coals for Benefit of the Poor, there shall be provided yearly hereafter at the best hand, between Lady Day and Michaelmas, by the several Companies of this City, the several Chaldrons hereafter mentioned: viz.

And so particular Numbers of Chaldrons are appointed to every one of the rest of the Companies, ending with the Glaziers.

And the said Quantity of Seacoal, to be stored or laid up in convenient Places by every the said Companies: And to be brought out, sold and uttered at such other hard and dear Seasons of the Year, in such manner, and at such Price, as the Lord Maior and Court of Aldermen shall judge most requisite, and as by their Precept in Writing they shall direct; so as the Companies be not ordered to sell the same Coals to Loss.

There were Proposals made by some Charitable Citizens, and set forth in Print, Anno 1706, for establishing a Charitable Fund in the City by voluntary Gifts and Loans of Money, for these good and pious Purposes following: viz. To relieve Necessitous Persons from the Oppressions and evil Practices of ill Men: To provide poor People within the Parishes of the Bills of Mortality, with Coal and other Necessaries at a cheap Rate in the Winter, and Times of War [or