ABSTRACT
London grew steadily in population during the first half of our period; with almost frightening speed during the second half. The great prosperity, the excitement, the opportunities, and perhaps even the anonymity which the metropolis provided drew men of all classes and abilities from every part of the realm; a few of whom were destined to become great merchants and even lord mayors; some of whom were to become solid members of the city's middle class; more of whom were to become at least self-supporting workmen in the myriad of trades and occupations spawned by the surging industrial and commercial growth of the city; and a considerable number who were to become social and economic derelicts whom the city found itself obliged to support, quite as much from a concern for public order as from the prompting of an increasingly sensitive social conscience. We shall observe that the men of London were aggressive and intelligent in assuming the responsibilities imposed by a new age and a more complex economy, founding and endowing great social institutions for the care and rehabilitation of the poor which were at once the model for and the envy of the realm at large. 1 Thus the very forwardness of London, and the immense generosity of its citizenry, created a social environment and institutions for the relief of poverty which undoubtedly served to draw to the city not only the unemployed but the unemployable. 2
