lso show that, in the metropolis and its suburbs, there exist types of
every class of poor that can be found in the rural and manufacturing
districts of England; just as it might be shown, that its inhabitants
consist of natives of every county in the three kingdoms. Its fixed
population, according to the quarter in which they live, would be found
to resemble the inhabitants of a great town, a cathedral city, or a seat
of manufactures. And that portion of its inhabitants which may be
regarded as migratory, would complete the resemblance, except that the
shadows would be deeper and the outline more jagged. These persons make
London their winter-quarters. At other seasons they are employed by the
farmer and the grazier. It is a fact, that the most onerous part of the
duties of the metropolitan authorities are those which relate to these
migratory classes. Among them are the most lawless and the most
pauperised of the agricultural districts. Others, during the spring,
summer, and autumn months, were engaged, or pretend that they were
engaged (and the statement cannot be tested,) in the cutting of
vegetables, the making of hay, the picking of pease, beans, fruit, and
hops, and in harvest work. Or they travelled over the country,
frequenting fairs, selling, or pretending to sell, knives, combs, and
stay-laces. Or they were knife-grinders, tinkers, musicians, or
mountebanks. As the winter approaches, they flock into the town in
droves. There they obtain a precarious subsistence in ways unknown; some
pick up the crumbs that fall from the rich man's table, others overcrowd
the workhouses. It would lead to many curious and useful results if this
matter were fully investigated. The reader's company is not, however,
required for this purpose; at the same time, the previous remarks may,
in some measure, prepare his mind for the consideration of kindred
topics. It may introduce a train of reflection, and prompt him to
inquire whether the wandering habits of these outcasts have been in any
degree engendered by the strict workhouse system and workhouse test
enforced in their native villages, by the destruction of cottages, and
the breaking up of local associations, and whether these habits have
been fostered by the facilities with which a bed and a mess of porridge
may be obtained at the unions, without inquiry into their business and
object in travelling.

Let us steer our course along the silent "highway," the Thames, and make
inqui