Brothers who attend; and there is no evading
fines under what he calls, not very reverently,
the Gospel according to Saint Mark. The
new Brother is likewise informed that it will
be his humble duty to turn out in his livery-
gown, and form with his companions a guard
of honour, coughing and wheezing, to assist
at all the churchings, christenings, &c., which
arise on occasions of rejoicing in the families
of the clerical officials.

Another notice on the board refers to the
kitchen, and the place being put out of
commons — upon which subject the new
Brother requires some enlightenment. For two
or three weeks every autumn, when the boys
are gone, and the officials in a body take their
holiday, it is not thought worth while to cook
for the Poor Brothers alone. The kitchen of
the Charterhouse has a tremendous range,
able to cook fifteen sirloins at a time, and it
cooks three dinners daily: one for the boys,
by two o'clock; one for the Brothers, by
three; and the last for the officials in Brooke
Hall, at half-past five. When there is no
dinner wanted for the boys, and none for
Brooke Hall, the Brothers receive each of
them thirteen pence a-day (on Sunday two
shillings and a penny) to provide and cook
their dinners for themselves. While we now
write, the kitchen grate is cold, because the
kitchen itself is unroofed, and undergoing
large repairs. The Poor Brothers, therefore,
being out of commons, receive each of them
eight shillings and sevenpence weekly, with
which they are required either to dine at
eating-houses, or to find dinners and cook
them in their little rooms — not pleasant
occupation in June weather. Those who desire
to take to themselves the whole care of their
own maintenance during this period, may, by
giving notice, receive an additional one and
fivepence, in lieu of the daily bread and
butter. They receive, therefore, ten shillings
a-week for their whole board, and are
permitted with this money to obtain, if they
please, lodging also, out of doors. Of course,
when the kitchen is pulled down the cook
must hang his ladle up, but the ancient gentleman
feels it to be somewhat of a slight that
there is no dinner to be got ready for him
when there is none required by the magnates
of the establishment.

Another piece of information on the notice-
board, intended to strike terror into the
hearts of the eighty ancient gentlemen, is the
formal notice of expulsion of one of their
number, for speaking impertinently to the
Master. If the Master lost his place, he
could fall back upon the income of his arch-
deaconry, his canonry, his rectorship, and all
the other gifts and graces for which he is,
perhaps, a little too notorious. The Poor
Brother, deprived of his asylum, was turned out
into the roads a beggar by offended dignity.
In the words of the offended dignitaries, here
is the poor fellow's condemnation, signed,
sealed, and delivered, in the depth of winter,
and when all hands and hearts in England
were preparing for the blessed festival of
Christmas, forgetting injuries, and above all
such injuries as wounded nothing but our
pride. There can be no mistake as to the
genuineness of this document, which we have
copied ourselves from the notice posted in the
dining hall of the Poor Brothers:—

"At an Assembly of the Governors of the
Charterhouse, held on Tuesday, the sixteenth
of December, 1851,

"John Dingwall Williams, one of the Poor
Brothers, having appeared before the
Assembly to answer a charge of having written
certain letters then produced, and having been
heard in respect thereof: and such letters
being, in the judgment of the Assembly, so
insulting to the governors and officers to
whom they were addressed, that it would not
be consistent with the good government,
order, and well-being of the Hospital to allow
the said John Dingwall Williams to continue
a Poor Brother: the said John Dingwall
Williams was deprived, displaced, and
removed from the place of a Poor Brother of
the Foundation; and it was ordered that he
leave the House on or before the twenty-
third of December instant."

We believe that these letters contained
comments on facts similar to those collected
in this paper, and that the Poor Brother had
been emboldened to speak out by the decision,
given last year by a revising barrister. A
Poor Brother, who had once been one of the
most influential tradesmen in the Strand, had
endeavoured last year to improve his
anomalous position by claiming the privilege of
the franchise as an elector. His claim was
contested, and allowed by the revising
barrister, who decided that " the Brothers of the
Charterhouse were duly qualified to vote,
both by property and position; that the
Charterhouse was not to be regarded merely
as a charitable institution, but was by its
charter to be ranked with the colleges and
other public foundations of the country,
instituted at different times by royal and other
illustrious individuals; that it does not
empower those entrusted with its administration
to expel at pleasure, &c.; consequently that
its members do not come under any
denomination that can render them at all ineligible
to the possession of the franchise."

It will be very obvious that the humbled
position of Poor Brother of the Charterhouse
has long ceased to be fit for the solace of those
"decayed merchants, householders, aged and
desolate churchmen, and the like," for whom
it was originally intended. It therefore will
surprise no person to learn that although
some men who have occupied places of honour
in society are always to be found among the
Brethren of the Charterhouse, the position
has for a long time been habitually given to
men who are in no need of consolation for a
lost position in the world. A great number
of the Poor Brothers of the Charterhouse are