Down and Out in Eighteenth-Century London [Paperback]

London in the eighteenth century was the greatest city in the world, and a magnet that drew men and women from the rest of England in huge numbers. If for a few the streets were paved with gold, for the majority it was a harsh world with little guarantee of money or food. For the poor and destitute, London's streets offered little more than the barest living. Yet men, women and children found a great variety of ways to eke out their existence, sweeping roads, selling matches, singing ballads and performing all sorts of menial labour. Many of these activities, apart from the direct begging of the disabled, depended on an appeal to charity, but one often mixed with threats and promises. Down and Out in Eighteenth-Century London provides a remarkable insight into the lives of Londoners, for all of whom the demands of charity and begging were part of their everyday world.

IllustrationsAcknowledgementsAbbreviationsIntroduction1 The Streets of London2 Sleeping Rough3 Pauper Professions4 Menaces and Promises5 The Rhetoric of Rags6 Begging from the Parish7 Charity in Stone8 The Begging Year9 A Beggar's Mask10 The History of the PoorNotesBibliographyIndex