THE relation of the rich to the poor, and the poor to the rich, has always been a subject of interest to the philosopher, moralist, economist, and philanthropist. This relation was, in feudal times, clearly enunciated, and as vigorously acted upon. The dark days and long evenings that witnessed the tolling of the curfew bell have passed away. Since those days we have made advances in social and political freedom, and class distinctions have become less obvious. Freedom of thought has developed a greater equality of social rights; but are the poor really any better off now than they were in the days when William hunted in the New Forest? I confess that many will reply in the affirmative; but when I see around me on every side so much disease, poverty, utter wretchedness, and crime, I conceive it difficult for the condition of man to be worse than that in which thousands in this metropolis exist. Look at the condition of the overcrowded dwellings of the poor; they are not _homes_. The word home in its full and happy significance and association is unknown to them. The proud boast of every Englishman, that his house is his castle, is a mere fiction. “There is no place like home, be it ever so humble,” is a truth that meets with the faintest response from thousands of miserable tenants who live in yet more miserable tenements. That the condition of the dwellings of the poor does not free them from the obligation to observe personal cleanliness is perfectly true, neither does the neglect of personal cleanliness on their part justify the landlord in neglecting the sanitary condition of his houses. It is to be regretted that more liberal and enlightened measures are not adopted. I feel confident that if the dwellings of the poor were made healthy and comfortable, there would be a marked improvement in the status of the poor. With improved health, cleanliness, and comfort we should obtain improved industry and prosperity; and this would not be confined exclusively to the poor, but its influence would be felt through every grade of society. It would tend to lessen the selfishness of the prosperous, and the suspicious jealousy and impostures of the unfortunate. We are apt to forget that:— “Is there for honest poverty That hangs his head, and a’ that? The coward slave, we pass him by, And dare be poor, for a’ that. The rank is but the guinea stamp, The man’s the gowd, for a’ that.”