PREFACE.
IT was remarked some few years since, concerning London,
by a writer in the
Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion
of Useful Knowledge
,
" We have, perhaps, no very satis-
factory works upon this vast metropolis in any department,
and the reason for this may be sought for in the almost
limitless variety of aspects which London presents. ... We
are not about to add one more to the many literary failures
that have had London for their theme, by attempting too
much."
The present volume will not, at all events, be subject
to the complaint referred to by this writer. The object of
its Author has been to sketch in its pages the mere outlines
of the condition, physical, moral, and religious, of a few
of the numerous classes into which the immense population
of London may be divided. He has endeavoured to por-
tray the features of five only of these classes, finding that
a reference to these, in any way complete or satisfactory
to his own mind, could not be compressed in a shorter
space than a volume of the present size.
If he meet with encouragement from an indulgent public,
with reference to this mere fragment, he would desire to follow it up by illustrations of other classes of London's masses.
Probably sketches of about twenty classes would comprise
the leading and prominent portions of the poorer orders.
At least, these would furnish to the general reader fair
specimens of the condition of that half of
London
, with
which the other half is so generally unacquainted. The
pauper-the lodging-house class-the foreigner-the Jew-
the police-the river and maritime classes-the
Spitalfields
weaver-the skilled artizan-the railway class-the coster-
monger-the laundress-the domestic servant-the needle-
woman-and some half-dozen other classes, would together,
in addition to the five classes sketched in the present
volume, constitute a very large proportion, at least, of
the lower masses of "the million-peopled city." A few
other classes might be considered in connexion with the
larger subjects with which they are identified, as the
publicans of London, in connexion with the important
subject of metropolitan drunkenness; the printer, in con-
nexion with the present state of the London press; such
trades as the shoemaker, in connexion with the Infidelity
of London, with which it is almost invariably associated;
and the baking and the milk trades, as representing to a
very large extent the Scotch and the Welsh of London, in
connexion with the very frequent loss of religious habits
on the part of country people on their location in England's
metropolis.
To the author it appears a matter of that importance
that information should be presented to the Christian
public on the condition of these classes, that, if he only
meet with adequate encouragement in the sale of the present
volume, he will consider it as a part of that duty to which
he desires to consecrate his days, to pursue somewhat
further the subject, if the Lord grant him life and health,
in spite of the numerous and onerous claims which already
so largely occupy his time.
His especial object in this volume is to illustrate the
condition of the working classes of the metropolis (to which
his attention has been anxiously directed for very many
years),
with the design of calling into exercise larger efforts
for their benefit.
It is only necessary to look attentively
at the condition of any class of the working orders, to be
convinced how very much yet remains to be done for its
welfare, and with what great facility further efforts may
immediately be made. There is in the present volume
what, he trusts, may interest, but he more especially desires
that there may be found in it what may also excite to
sympathy and aid. The popular mind has shown itself of
late to be ready to welcome further information on the
condition of the masses, especially of the metropolis. His
solicitude is that this should be turned to a good account.
No pretensions are made to literary merit in the present
volume. It is a plain tale. The facts themselves are its
only eloquence. These have been penned in the midst of
incessant interruptions, and at hasty snatches of time.
The author has considered it important to illustrate what
may, by the Divine blessing, be effected for the moral and
religious benefit of each class of the population referred to,
by relating what has been already effected, especially by the
lay agency, of late years so extensively and so happily called
into exercise-an agency by which, he believes, our working
classes in the metropolis are chiefly to be influenced in the
present day. He had not intended, on sitting down to
write the book, to give any prominence to the operations
of the
London City Mission
among these classes, but
to have referred with equal frequency to the operations
of the various kindred Societies. But he found as he
proceeded that this was impracticable, and that with
every desire to follow out his first intentions, his chief
information must be derived from that Society. This
arose partly from its records being more accessible to him,
to work; others to play. Some would use their means
temperately; others would enjoy them immoderately. Some
would improve what they got, mending and making and
devising how to turn all to the best account; others would
waste, and break, and spoil, and destroy. Some would deny
themselves and begin to lay by, abstaining for the present
out of regard to the future; others, not caring to look
beyond the pleasure of the passing hour, would gratify their
immediate inclinations at all risk of consequences to come.
. . . And if we could see the same parties after an interval,
not of a day, but of a week, or month, or year, the change
would be more marked, the difference much greater, and the
contrast and its causes far more obvious."
The Rev. C. Girdlestone.
That which is endeavoured to be enforced in this volume
is simply that the one class is not to live separate from,
unmindful of, and without effort for the benefit of the other.
And if this is the case, as it undoubtedly is, with reference
to the possession of wealth, which is, after all, often pos-
sessed by mere descent, or by purely accidental circum-
stances, and, in all instances, is dependant on the blessing of
God, it is much more the case with reference to the posses-
sion of knowledge and true religion,-those sacred deposits
which cannot, without positive criminality, be retained only
for our own benefit, and thus "laid up in a napkin." " The
social condition of our working classes has, of late years,
been very closely analyzed. . . And now we seem to have
at last awakened, as from a dream, to the real condition of
these, the great majority of our fellow-creatures.... By
degrees the full truth has burst" (or, rather, as the author
would say, is gradually, but steadily, forcing itself) " upon
us. . . The energy of individuals has called into life many
most valuable Societies, has forced on the Legislature many
wholesome enactments, in aid of moral and sanitary improve-
ment. Much has been done of real and substantial good;
but the revelation of existing evils calls for more and more
active exercise of the spirit which seeks its removal."
Viscount Ingestre's " Meliora."
In the humble hope that the middle and higher classes
may be incited to contemplate and to seek to elevate and
bless the other classes of London's population, this volume is
committed to the press. May the Divine blessing attend its
publication.
J. G.
LONDON,
APRIL 27TH, 1853
.
