ABSTRACT
Charity as a social practice, and its broader philosophical dimension, philanthropy, are gauges with which to measure the changes of 'attitude' between two levels of societies, the 'rich' and the 'poor', as the first epigram points out. The study of the 'attitude' of the privileged towards the poor cannot simply, or unproblematically, be reflected in the history of particular philanthropists or in the societal 'movements' of philanthropy. In general, philanthropy throughout the eighteenth century had been looked upon as a solution to England's social ills-depopulation, economic privation, disease, criminality. Philanthropy and individual 'benevolence' began to play an important role in the maintenance of the social order. Reading as a cultural value and habit signified a practice among the middling and upper classes that was already thought to provide self and societal improvement. The value and practice of reading could be accommodated to the self-help strategy of philanthropy, and provide the moral amelioration of the poor and laboring classes.
