1793 THOMAS RUGGLES; HISTORY OF THE POOR THE SECOND HISTORY OF THE POOR 068. RUGGLES, Thomas. The history of the Poor; their rights, duties, and the laws respecting them. In a series of letters. In two volumes. London. Printed for J. Deighton. 1793. and 1794. [2],xxv,[1],297,[1]p; [2],341,[1]p. Contemporary half calf, marbled boards, neatly rebacked. A very good set. From the Library of the Working Men's College, with bookplates. GOLDSMITHS 15772. THE FIRST EDITION. Thomas Ruggles, was a country gentleman of sense and sympathy. The apparent distress of his neighbours, as he wintered in the country, led him to undertake an enquiry into facts and explanations. The survey he produced was perhaps less a social survey than an analysis and discussion of what had been previously written. As such it is a useful reference work on the important earlier authorities Andrew Yarrinton, Thomas Firmin, Samuel Darker, Sir Josiah Child, John Locke, Daniel Defoe, John Cary, Richard Burn, Thomas Gilbert, Arthur Young. etc. After Richard Burn's History of the Poor Laws, 1764, this work constitutes the second history of the Poor. Ruggles had expected to fold that wages were inadequate and the poor innocent victims, but eventually convinced himself that the indolence of.the poor was the chief cause of distress. He decided that wages had been higher in the sixteenth century, but that the creation of the Poor Law had compensated for their decline. Like Eden, Ruggles opposed the regulation of wages. But unlike Alcock or Malthus he could not go so far as to seek the abolition of the poor law altogether. He feared the effects of abolition on both the merciful rich and the deserving poor: "As to leaving the poor to private contributions, it would, in our present state of civilization, refinement, and general apathy to religious matters, be a cruel and unjust dereliction: were they to be supported by those alone who are the best members of society; the compassionate... would then witness such scenes of distress, as would wring every penny from their pockets... while the gay, the joyous, the unfeeling; those who live in crowds and in the bustle of the world; would contribute not a farthing to those scenes of distress from which they are so removed." History of the Poor II. 77.