Page:The Annual Register 1758.djvu/396

 are tied, and we shall in vain hope to see the evil of this case ever corrected.

T the city of Bern in Switzerland, a man of business, by success in his way of trade, had acquired a considerable real and personal estate; being grown in years, and having no family, he made a will to the following effect, viz.

"Being anxious for my fellow-citizens of Bern, (who have often suffered by dearth of corn and wine) my will is, that, by the permission of Providence, they shall never for the future suffer again under the like calamity; to which end and purpose I give my estate, real and personal, to the senate of Bern, in trust for the people; that is to say, that they receive the produce of my estate, till it shall come to the sum of [suppose two thousand pounds;] that then they shall lay out this two thousand pounds in building a town-house, according to the plan by me left: the lower story whereof to confist of large vaults or repositories for wine; the story above I direct to be formed into a piazza, for such perfons as shall come to market at Bern, for disposing of their goods, free from the injuries of the weather; above that I direct a council chamber to be erected, for the committee of the Senate to meet in from time to time, to adjust my accounts, and to direct such things as may be neccesary for the charity; and above the council chanber as many floors or granaries as can be conveniently raised to deposit a quantity of corn for the use of the people, whenever they shall have occasion for it. And when this building shall be erected, and the expence of it discharged, I direct the senate of Bern to receive the produce of my estate, till the same shall amount to the sum [suppofe two thousand pounds:] and when the price of corn shall be under the mean rate of the last ten years, one fourth part, they shall then lay out one thousand pounds in corn, and stow it in my granaries; and the same in wine, when under one fourth of the mean rate of the last ten years; and my will is, that none of the said corn or wine shall be sold until the price of corn or wine shall exceed, at the common market, one fourth of the mean rate for the last ten years; and then every citizen of Bern shall demand daily (or proportionably weekly) as many pounds weight of wheat, and as many pints of wine, as he hath mouths in his family to consume, and no more; and that for the same he pay ready money, after the mean rate that it has been at for the last ten years part, a due proportion being allowed for waste, and that to be settled by the Senate; and that each housholder shall be so supplied, as long as the price of corn or wine shall continue above the rate of one fourth more than the mean rate; and whatsoever increase shall be made of the capital, it shall be laid out under the same restrictions, in adding to the stock of corn and wine; which, under the blessing of God, will, I hope, in a certain time, reduce these two necessary articles of life to very near a fixed price, to the glory of God, and for the benefit of the poor."