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Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890), 15th May 1889, Edition 1 of 1, Page 524, ¦" I ¦mm ' a^v^a^ *m *a am ^N-J M *W "*

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      Mr. Swinburne's New Volume*

      conceals art , and the result is a disastrous onefor the reader ' s attention is inevitably

      diverted , from the sense and centred upon the ^ marvellou ™ - ^ ¦ ^ " ~ *""~ i ™ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ° " ^»^» ¦ s ¦ workmanshi w » ^^^ ^ " ^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^ v ^^»^^ p ^ Bp ^ V ^^ p ^ B . p *^^ ^^^ ^^»^^™ p ^ P *^^ . ^ F ^ It ^ " ^™ ^^^ would ™ m ^^ " ^ ^™ ^^ ^^ not ¦ »™ ¦ ~~ be - —

      possible to devise measures more subtle or more wantonly difficult than those which are

      used , for instance , in * The Armada / * To a Seamew / and in ' Pan and Thalassius . ' The

      only satisfactory way in which these poems can be read is to go over them once for the

      music , and a second time for the disentanglement of the sense . ;

      To us the most attractive poems in the volume are the fine imitations of the old

      ballad . In these Mr . Swinburne's unfailing artistic instinct compels — j - — him to - simp ^ licity •/* , and

      in that his salvation ( lies . We cannot help wishing that he would give us a book of poems

      in which he should forswear alliteration and " eschew altogether the swinging and

      complicated measures in which his soul delights . Let him try for once the jtonic of the

      unadorned octrosyllabic and the masculine

      English heroic verse .

      ¦" I ¦Mm ' A^V^A^ *M *A Am ^N-J M *W "*

      ¦ " I ¦ mm ' a ^ v ^ a ^ * m * a am ^ N-J M * W "*

      524 ± he ^ Jru busk ers Uircul & r May 15 , 188 9

      Life And Labour In Bast

      LIFE AND LABOUR IN BAST

      LONDON . * At length a book has appeared which deals

      in a systematic and intelligible way with the actual condition of the people who congregate i

      so thickly in the streets j . a and . slums of t ^ East _ - London . Mr . Booth and seven other

      enthusiastic social reformers have for the last two years been exploring the whole districtand

      in 1 / a volume of nearl O y six hundred pages , , , which is crowded with statistics and facts

      of the utmost importance , they now give us the result of their useful and disinterested

      investigations . If London north of the Thames is regarded c ? as a semicircle __ , of __ which __ the City _ — ^

      is an enlarged centre , the part with which this volume deals may be said to form a quadrant

      having * B m for ^ h its a radii ^ k a a Kingsland ^^ p ™ ^^ B" a bbi . a Road «^^^^~ ^ running ^ , due north , / and the river Thames running ^^ due

      east . Mr . Booth brings the whole population of East London and Hackney under review

      comprising about 900 , 000 persons , and this , huge army of the conscripts of toil is classified

      by him according to the occupation and social status of the heads of families . For the

      purposes of comparison the whole population is divided into eight classes , which are formed as

      follows : — Class A . consists of what is sometimes

      mainl termed made the residuum of the of inmates the population of ~— the , lowest and is y ^^ P up p . — — — ™ ¦ ~¦ " — ¦ ¦ ™ ^*^ ^ fcr » » - ^^ - w ~^^ - - ^—

      sort of lodging-houses or streets ; men and women * cad — — — hk ing — — , in thieving fact ¦—¦ — , __ who bull ,-v ¦ - ~— — . p ick ing up —in a livelihood «» # . a ^ k but by

      by labour g ^ j , y . ' They w , _ are y _ to o « some — »• » any extent w way w w « , v w r ^ - ' an ^*» ** hereditary classand ¦ Whitechapel -- with its 1 nest r

      of lod - - ~ -- ging -houses — - , -- — - is their w r - _ ~^^~ ~^ f- ^_ favourite _^» - — V ^^^ r w-v ^ p ^^ ^^ ^ b ^ , ^^ haunt ~~ P ^^ ^^ 44 ^ fc ^ f ^^ P V ; they form 3 * 3 per cent , of the population

      of this parish , whilst in the whole district they form only 1 ' 2 per cent . Criminals and

      semi-criminals of all ages and both sexes , liiuit : * Life and unaries Labour nootn of the lAmaon People . Volume I . East London ,

      oa Dy . ( : Williams < fc JNorgate . )

      f together with occasional labourers , hawkers > and loafersalso abound in it . Casual

      daylabourers with , their wives and families con- ! stitute Class B . They are all in abject

      p 6 verty , for on an average many of them , who are dock labourerscannot obtain more

      than three days' work a , week . On the other handit must not be forgotten that there

      are thriftless , and idle people in these ranks who do not want more work than three or four

      days a week , who prefer , in fact , to be in a degree leisured even though poor , and choose to work when they like and play when

      they like . Class C . is described as a little higher in the social scalethough all who

      belong C 3 to it feel the pinch , of povert O y ; their great difficulty springs out of the fact that

      their earnings are intermittent , sometimes igoodc [ uite as often badand never regular for

      any length , of time together , . These people are unable to reckon upon a guinea a week through

      the year , for a man with a wife and family . The men of Class D . on the other handthough

      they are socially on , the same level as those , of whom MB we have AK H A just spoken , obtain Atheir ^ _ ^^^ _ ^^ ^ ^

      eighteen shillings . to twenty-one shillings a week with a fair degree o— ^ t — of regularity — ^ v . In j

      Class E . we reach those who may fairly be regarded as above the line of povertyand they

      constitute ' the men who get the JL . ordinary V , stan - dard earnings of East Londonin other words

      from ^¦ ft twent _ _ y-two shill ^ h ¦ A ^ M ^ H ings to , thirt ^ K . s . y shillings ^ K A ^ K ^ B A « a - *• week f V % ^ X . / . L ^ ; this VJ . 11 U is -L *> J b *** y J far Mi * . the tlAV largest * fc « pV ^ C ^ ^/ pSJ */ commu vVAAlAAl V * -

      nity in the district , for it numbers ' no less than 377000 orin other wordsforty-two per cent . ,

      of the , entire , , population . , Class F . consists of foremenskilled artisansand other workmen

      in positions , of trust , , earning from thirty shillings ^ 7 to fifty «/ shillings C 5 a week . Shop

      JLkeepers , small employers of labour , clerks , and subordinate professional men form Class

      G ; whilst all above x it , who are described by Mr . Booth as the servant-keeping class /

      constitute Class H ; these are , of course , the aristocrats of East London , and they chiefly

      dwell in Hackney , where one-fifth of the their population hih live rental in houses are not which invaded , because bthe of g y

      School Board visitors , . The whole population of the district

      increased in the twenty years between 1861 and 1881 from 654 , 000 to 879 , 000 . Within the

      same period the number of shirt-makers and sempstresses fell from 8233 to 6729 or from

      ,,, to 2 75 Irish to 1 competition * 75 per cent . ., a Sugar decrease refiners due , decreased it is said ,

      from 1 , 4 : 37 to 616 , or from * 48 to * 15 per cent ., in . consequence JL of the importation jL of bounty a / -fed

      sugar ; whilst silk and satin workers dropped from 9 , 611 to 3 , 309 , or from 322 to " 84 , a

      result attributed mainly to the Cobden treaty with France . On the other handtrimming and

      artificial flower makers increased , from 1510 to 2 , 941 ; printers and bookbinders from , 4 , 829

      to 9 , 195 ; furriers , skinners , and leather workers from 1 , ™ 737 ^ h ^ g to — -r 3 m , ^ y 426 i i ^— ; ^ m paper ^ r- ~ ' ^^ ¦ B ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ bag t ^ n ^ ^•^^^^¦ pi ^ fc and ^^ " ^ ^ —

      workers envelope from makers 1 from 953 to 1 , 092 3273 to 3 , 018 tailors ; tobacco from ;

      10 10 , , 776 466 to to 15 16 , 674 , 84 , $ ; ; cabinet and boo , makers t makers < ftc . from from

      15 , 434 to 17 , 318 . Whitechapel i » the centre

  • Citation
    • Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890), May 15, 1889, page 524, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/pc/issues/tec_15051889/page/14/