Better far his humble shed,
Where the aged and sick are led;
Humble sheds of neighbours by,
And the old and tatter'd bed,
Where he sleeps and hopes to die.
To quit of torpid sluggishness the [lair],
And from the pow'rful arms of sloth [get] free,
'Tis rising from the dead—Alas! it cannot be.
Thomson's Castle of Indolence [Canto II. ll. 59-61].
The Method of treating the Borough Paupers—Many maintained at their own Dwellings—Some Characters of the Poor—The School-mistress, when aged—The Idiot—The poor Sailor—The declined Tradesman and his Companion—This contrasted with the Maintenance of the Poor in a common Mansion erected by the Hundred—The Objections to this Method: not Want, nor Cruelty, but the necessary Evils of this Mode—What they are—Instances of the Evil—A Return to the Borough Poor—The Dwellings of these—The Lanes and By-ways—No Attention here paid to Convenience—The Pools in the Path-ways—Amusements of Sea-port Children—The Town-Flora—Herbs on Walls and vacant Spaces—A female Inhabitant of an Alley—A large Building let to several poor Inhabitants—Their Manners and Habits.