of labour," in its widest
sense; and at once say, that there are many things bearing upon the
comfort of the habitations of the poor, which both the local authorities
and the imperial government ought to look to. Is there not a strange
mockery in the fact, stated in the Sanitary Report, that "the annual
slaughter in England and Wales from preventible causes of typhus which
attacks persons in the vigour of life, appears to be double the amount of
what was suffered by the allied armies in the battle of Waterloo?" Must
we not say again that the careless cruelty of the world almost outweighs
the rest?

I have hitherto abstained from vexing my readers with details; nor do I
wish now to do more than draw their attention to a few extracts from
public documents respecting the habitations of the poor. I take the
following from the Hand Loom Weavers' Report in 1841.

"The First Annual Report of the Registrar-General, showed for the
year 1838 a variation of the annual mortality in different districts
of the metropolis, amounting to 100 per cent.; a difference nearly
equal to that which exists between the most healthy and the least
healthy portions of the world. The inquiries instituted at the same
time by the Poor Law Commissioners into the physical causes of fever
in the metropolis, have traced the comparative mortality of the
unhealthy districts principally to the presence of impurities, the
want of ventilation, and the bad construction of houses.

"The following extracts from Dr. Southwood Smith's Report on Bethnal
Green and Whitechapel, show both the causes and the intensity of the
evil.

'It appears,' says Dr. Southwood Smith, 'that in many parts of
Bethnal Green and Whitechapel, fever of a malignant and fatal
character is always more or less prevalent. In some streets it has
recently prevailed in almost every house; in some courts in every
house; and in some few instances in every room in every house. Cases
are recorded in which every member of a family has been attacked in
succession, of whom in every such case several have died; some whole
families have been swept away. Instances are detailed in which there
have been found in one small room six persons lying ill of fever
together; I have myself seen this, four in one bed, and two in
another.

* * * * *

'The room of a fever patient