ABSTRACT
JOHN BRIDGES and his wife came up to London in November 1869 and Bridges plunged at once into a sea of work. Pauperism that winter had reached a higher level than for many years; the existing workhouses and infirmaries were hopelessly inadequate for the numbers of destitute poor who flocked into them, and to add to his difficulties an epidemic of relapsing fever broke out, largely amongst the pauper population, which taxed his energies to the uttermost. That winter was one of deep anxiety, for to the burden of responsibility was added the serious illness of his wife, and London lodgings and London fogs did not add to life's amenities. But in the spring, the strain lessened; the epidemic had run its course for the time being, Mary Bridges recovered strength, and in June 1870, they were able to take their first holiday, a deferred honeymoon. They spent a month in Switzerland and on the Italian Lakes, stopping at Lucerne, Hospenthal, Lugano and Bellagio. “ We were like children let out of school,” writes his wife; “ revelling in the mountains and the glory of the flowers.”
