106 FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



should be paid every week in hard eash ; he then 

 knows exactly what he lias to trust to, and can 

 lay it out in the way that coincides with his 

 own wishes. 



There is a vast deal of clap-trap nonsense 

 respecting ^Hlie improvement of the dwellings of 

 the poor." I take it on myself to assure my 

 readers that, if the entire population of the rural 

 classes were polled for and against what is called 

 '^the improvement of their dwellings," there would 

 be an overwhelming number of votes for the old 

 cottages, and an immense chorus would arise of 

 ^' Oh, give us our lowly thatched cottage again." 



However, ^^to improve the dwellings of the 

 poor" sounds well, and is an ostentatious extra- 

 vagance or showy ceremony, much delighted in 

 bv the rich of the present day. No one can say 

 anything against the abstract fact, but as to its 

 rendering the labouring classes more contented, 

 warmer, and better off as to the cost of living, the 

 improvement of their dwellings has done no such 

 thing. No really usefully-inclined man seems to 

 me ever to ask an honest labourer, i^er se, why 

 he is discontented, and what it is that he wants, 

 or thinks would l)enefit his condition. 



