painfully to earn threepence farthing a-day;
while the same people shifted to other quarters
in the country, would find men contending
for the possession of their labour, glad to
give two or three shillings daily for a pair of
hands. The people of the parish hang
together like a congealed lump in a solution
that needs to be broken up and stirred in
with the rest.

Half the men here would be hailed with
chants of joy by the manufacturers were
they to turn their back upon their
handlooms and march to the aid of steam in
Preston. I do not say, Send them to Preston,
for in that town one misery can only be
relieved because another has been made, but
there are very many parts of England in
which labour is wanted sorely, and would
earn fair pay. Employers in those parts of
England should be made fully aware of the
existence of such parishes as this, in which
hardworking, earnest, quiet people struggle
in the dark. Such parishes are banks on
which cheques may be drawn to any amount
for the capital that can be made of honest
labour.

There is room for many of these people in
large provincial towns, and in small towns
and rural districts. The abolition of the Law
of Settlement—a horrible evil and an
absolutely frightful cruelty, fully discussed last
year in this journal—will remove the chief
obstacle to sued an attempt to break up little
lumps of social misery. The abolition of that
law is promised to the country, and whoever
strives to make the promise null or to postpone
its fulfilment, strives practically—whatever
his intent may be—to perpetuate or to prolong
some of the worst pains that vex both flesh
and spirit of our labourers. When the
migrations of the poor cease to be watched
with narrow jealousy, as will be the case
when this bad law is dead, no corner of our
social life in London, or in England, need
stagnate or putrify. There need be no longer
six-and-twenty people in a cottage, upon
ground that does not find fit work for six.
Change will be then possible for Bethnal-
Green. It may remain the home of poverty
and toil, but it may cease to be the home
of want.

THE ROVING ENGLISHMAN.

FREE QUARTERS.

THE religions establishments of foreign
countries have one excellence in which they
stand in honourable contrast to our own.
It is, that important institutions of great
public utility are often founded and supplied
by their revenues. Many of the high
dignitaries of the church abroad have incomes
beside which even that of the Bishop of
London would appear to a disadvantage;
but nearly all have far other claims on them
than our prelates; claims to which they are
also compelled by law or usage to satisfy
very strictly. I could give a dozen instances
in point, easily; but, one will serve my
purpose just now, and we will therefore confine
ourselves to it: premising merely that it is
one of many.

Let us not be too proud to learn. We have
so often stood in the honourable relation of
teachers to other nations that we can afford
now and then to turn pupils with a better
grace. If, in the present instance, the
Incomes from a long way off, and from a place
whence we are not generally in the habit of
receiving lessons of practical benefit, this is
no reason why we should receive it less kindly
or be especially surprised. Minerva's self
might, I dare say, have learned something
new in the poorest Spartan village.

Having now introduced my subject
respectfully, I proceed to say that there is
in the town of Castro, at the distant island
of Mytilene in the Ægean Sea, a small
establishment which I am sure no one would be
sorry to see imitated in London upon a larger
scale. It is a Travellers' Home, built and
supported solely by the revenues of the
Greek Archbishopric. I very much doubt
if any part of them be better employed.

It is a very plain house, and is divided
into a vast number of small rooms without
furniture of any kind. Each room has a
fire-place, several commodious cupboards, and
a strong door with a strong padlock to fasten
it: there is a common fire for all the
inmates of these rooms, presided over by the
solitary single gentleman who has charge of
the building.

The object for which this place was first
erected, was as a temporary resting-place for
the more humble travellers who flock to the
capital of the island, to take part in the solemn
festivals of the Greek Church; but its advantages
have since been extended to all travellers
who have no home elsewhere. The
only title to admission is decent apparel.
The right to remain any reasonable time is
acquired by quiet, orderly conduct, and an
understanding, strictly enforced, that each
traveller shall keep, and leave, the room
allotted to him perfectly clean.

There is no charge for this entertainment.
The traveller may give if he pleases, but
nothing is required of him. The numerous
respectable people who avail themselves of
the establishment generally pay something
towards a fund which is understood to go in
part to the keeping of the building in good
repair; but the contributions are very small,
and by far the greater part of the visitors pay
nothing.

It is impossible to think, without satisfaction,
of the many people whose necessities
while travelling are thus provided for;
whether they bring an air mattrass and
comfortable coverings with them, or whether
they sleep on the hard floor; whether they
purchase a comfortable dinner of the snug