They desert their dirt and
drudgery, and swarm up to London, in hopes of getting into
service, where they can live luxuriously and wear fine clothes,
without being obliged to work; for idleness is natural to man --
Great numbers of these, being disappointed in their expectation,
become thieves and sharpers; and London being an immense
wilderness, in which there is neither watch nor ward of any
signification, nor any order or police, affords them lurking-places
as well as prey.
There are many causes that contribute to the daily increase of
this enormous mass; but they may be all resolved into the grand
source of luxury and corruption -- About five and twenty years ago,
very few, even of the most opulent citizens of London, kept any
equipage, or even any servants in livery. Their tables produced
nothing but plain boiled and roasted, with a bottle of port and a
tankard of beer. At present, every trader in any degree of
credit, every broker and attorney, maintains a couple of footmen,
a coachman, and postilion. He has his town-house, and his
country-house, his coach, and his post-chaise. His wife and
daughters appear in the richest stuffs, bespangled with diamonds.
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