e metropolis, and those of the country. If this were all, not
another word would be written. But it so happens that the comparison
affords an opportunity, which cannot be passed over, of referring to the
changes which are going on in the world; and forcibly reminds us, that
while some are rising, others are falling, and many are in the mire,
trodden under foot, and forgotten. It is with the miserable beings who
are in the last predicament, that poor-laws have to do.

The political economist may be right when he announces, that the
introduction of machinery has, on the whole, been beneficial; and that
the change of employment from one locality to another, depends upon the
action of natural laws, of which he is merely the expositor. It may be
the case, too, that he is attending carefully to the particular limits
of his favourite science, when he occupies his mind with the laws
themselves, rather than with their aberrations. But those who treat upon
pauperism as an existing evil, to be dealt with now, should remember
that they have to do not with natural laws, as they are separated and
classified in the works of scientific men, but with the laws in all
their complexity of operation, and with the incidents which arise from
that complexity.

The coachmen, the guards, the ostlers, the horse-keepers, the
harness-makers, the farriers, the various workers in the trade of
coach-builders, and the crowd of tatterdemalions who performed all sorts
of offices,--where are they? The inquirer must go into the back streets
and alleys of London. He must search the records of benevolent
institutions; and he must hold frequent converse with those who
administer parochial relief. But his sphere must not be confined to the
metropolis. Let the reader unroll his library map of England, and devote
an entire afternoon to the study of it. Trace the high-roads with a
pointer. Pause at every town, and at every stage. Refer to an old book
of roads, and to a more modern conveyance directory. Let memory perform
its office: reflect upon the crowds of persons who gained a subsistence
from the fact that yourselves and many others were obliged to travel
along the high-road on your way from London to York. There were
inn-keepers, and waiters and chambermaids, post-boys and "boots." Then
there were hosts of shop-keepers and tradesmen who were enabled to
support their families decently, because the stream of traffic flowed
through their native towns and villa