^Ex. 30-40.] COUNT RUMFORD. 38 



and to provide for the poor. Accompanied by the chief 

 magistrate, he went into the street, and the first beggar 

 who asked for alms he arrested with his own hands, 

 and orders were given to all the other officers, who also 

 were accompanied with magistrates, to do the same. In 

 less than an hour no beggar was to be found in the 

 streets. They were taken to the Town Hall, inscribed 

 in printed lists, and then told to go to the newly-erected 

 Military Workhouse. An address was opened to the 

 public, asking for perfectly voluntary subscriptions to 

 put an end to begging ; monthly sums were given, and 

 daily supplies of bread, meat, and soup were collected. 1 

 Several good spinners of hemp were engaged at the 

 House of Industry, and this was the first occupation of the 

 poor. Knitting, sewing, and carding wool were early oc- 

 cupations, but the object to be desired was woollen work 

 for the clothing of the army. If the poor did well, 

 they were rewarded ; if they came late, their food was 

 lessened. They slept at their own homes, and when 

 ill they received relief at home. Everything was 

 done to encourage industry and emulation. ' To incite 

 activity and inspire with a true spirit of persevering 

 industry, it was necessary to fire the poor with 

 emulation to awaken in them a dormant passion 

 whose influence they had never felt ; the love of honest 

 fame ; an ardent desire to excel, the love of glory, 

 or by what other pompous name this passion, the most 



1 So great was the economy practised that the daily expense for fire- 

 wood in the kitchen, where dinner was provided for 1,000 people, was 

 only twelve Kreutzers, or fourpence halfpenny. Sometimes 1,500 were 

 fed in one day. 



D 



