{7} Benbow may be thought too low and despicable to be admitted
here; but he is a borough-character, and however disgusting in some
respects a picture may be, it will please some, and be tolerated by
many, if it can boast that one merit of being a faithful likeness.
{8} The characters of the Hospital Directors were written many
years since and, so far as I was capable of judging, are drawn with
fidelity. I mention this circumstance that, if any reader should
find a difference in the versification or expression, he will be
thus enabled to account for it.
{9} The Poor are here almost of necessity introduced, for they must
be considered, in every place, as a large and interesting portion of
its inhabitants. I am aware of the great difficulty of acquiring
just notions on the maintenance and management of this class of our
fellow subjects, and I forbear to express any opinion of the various
modes which have been discussed or adopted: of one method only I
venture to give my sentiments,--that of collecting the poor of a
hundred into one building.
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