The original intention and the practice for some time was, to make the soup principally from shins and the coarser pieces of beef, as clods, stickings, &c. but the society as for some time adopted the plan of buying quarters of beef only, lest the demand on the market for coarser pieces should, by raising the prices of these in greater proportion, be of prejudice to individuals, who may have been in the habit of providing them selves with these, and these only. Every article in the soup is of the best quality which can be procured.

Every quart of this soup contains the essence of about five ounces of beef, and nearly three ounces of solid barley and pease. It possesses the advantage of being ready cooked. Two or three quarts of it, if mixed with boiled potatoes, would furnish a savoury meat for a large family. Three men are employed to cut up the meat, make the soup, &c. and a woman to pare onions, and assist the superintendant.

Duty of the Visitors.

The visitors whose turn it is to deliver soup on any given day, must be at the Soup House precisely at six o'clock on the preceding evening. The men having previously heated a proper quantity of water nearly to the boiling point, the visitors having entered their names in the book, unlock the larder, and see the meat weighed which was left on the last evening. This they enter down in the proper column. They then see the meat weighed which was sent in on that day, examine its quality, and enter the weight in the book. They next advert to the recommendation of the last visitors as to the quantity to be nade; see the meat apportioned out to each boiler according to the prescribed formula; and stand by while it is cut into small pieces and put into the boilers; they also see the barley and pease weighed up in clean wooden tubs, and set by in proper proportion for each boiler. The whole of the meat being introduced, and the water brought to boil, the fires are banked up, the visitors see the men out of the premises, lock up the larder, and give the keys to the superintendant. The meat is left to simmer all night. During this time it becomes thoroughly stewed down, and the fleshy fibres equally distributed through the whole mass. The men come at six o'clock in the morning, rouse up the fires, add the barley and pease, and at eight o'clock the onions, pepper, and salt; and the whole is kept constantly stirred until it is served out.

The Evening Report is made in a book ruled as under. SOUP-HOUSE...EVENING.

18

Prepared Barley and Pease, Salt, Pepper, and Onions, as per the Receipt.

REMARKS.

On the next morning the same visitors attend before ten o'clock, and enter their names on the side of the book prepared for the morning report. In order to prevent loss of time in disputing whether the money be good or not, the committee has ordered that only penny pieces, new halfpence, or silver be taken. One of the visitors is generally employed in giving tickets for new recommendations; the other in taking the money, and marking the tickets, in order that any ticket should not be supplied more than once on the same day this is provided for by drawing the pen through the day of the month on which the ticket is to be presented: the applicant on paying the money receives a little ticket, with a figure expressive of the number of quarts for which he has paid, and with this he passes on to the place of distribution, where the soup is served

2 B

by a ladle or measure, containing one quart; the applicant then passes out by a different door from that at which he entered.

The committee has been very anxious to œconomize the time of the poor, and improvements suggested by experience have shortened the time of delivering the soup to limits scarcely credible; for some perhaps will not without difficulty be brought to believe that upwards of three thousand quarts are daily distri buted to above one thousand persons applying on behalf of their respective families, their money taken, and their tickets marked, in less than two hours and a quarter on an average: it has been done frequently within the two hours. The average of the detention of each person during the delivery, from the time of entering the house at one door and quitting it at the other, is about thirty-eight minutes; and as a great number of those who come for the soup, are either children, or aged persons past any very beneficial labour, it is evident that not much valuable time is lost in fetching it.

In order to shelter the poor from the inconveniences and danger of being exposed to the weather, the committee has found means to receive about three hundred persons at once under cover; and to prevent that violence and confusion which at first were subjects of just complaint, a kind of railing or maze has been constructed, which insures order by obliging each person to follow in regular succession to the place of serving.

The soup being all delivered the doors are shut, the visitors count the money, tie it up, and put it into bags, together with a statement, as follows: .

A duplicate is left with the superintendant for the treasurer. The bags are then sealed and left in charge of the superintendant. The visitors fill up the blanks in their book, and add any remarks they may think necessary.

The average daily quantity of soup delivered is above 3100 quarts, and the daily consumption of the following articles as under:

It is calculated that when all who partake of the soup in families are taken into the account, that a meal is thus furnished for 7000 persons every day. The beef alone which enters into the composition of every quart, costs the Institution Two-pence at the wholesale price: if this portion of meat were distributed to the poor, raw, it must be cooked; if roasted or fried, besides the expense of fire, there would be waste: if boiled, some of the gelatine, one of the most nutritious parts, of the meat, would be dissolved out by the water; but in this mode of cooking the whole of the nourishment is preserved.

The difference between the cost of the soup and money paid by the poor occasions a loss to the Institution of more than 150l. per week. This is supported by subscriptions from various benevolent individuals, by liberal contributions from the

No.of

bankers, fire-offices, merchants, and principal tradesmen,
aided by donations from the City of London and the Bank; a
committee at Lloyd's coffee-house for the relief of the Indus-
trious Poor, the East India Company, the West India Dock
and Mercers' Companies, the Royal Exchange Assurance, and
other corporate bodies.

It had long been an object with some of the original pro-
moters of this charity to obtain more exact information of the
particular circumstances of every poor family to which the
soup was distributed, than that afforded by the recommenda-
tions. Considerable difficulties, however, were opposed to this
inquiry, and they have only been surmounted in the present
season by the following method. One of the members of the
committee obtained leave to have all the recommendations of
the present delivery down to the 25th of January, sent to his
house. These recommendations contained the residence of
the applicants, with the number of their tickets. He first made
four grand divisions, E. W. N. S. of the Soup House; and in
their assortment the recommendations were distributed in four
piles each of these piles was subdivided into streets, begin-
ning with that nearest the Soup House, and the whole so con-
trived, that the visitation might be made with the least possi-
ble quantity of walking: this arrangement necessarily took up
many days; in the mean time books were preparing for the en-
try of cases, ruled in columns according to the following plan.

:

Re- By No of Nameof Parents.

commen

WHEELER STREET.

Children.

Father which No.)

ReligiHow Trade.ous profession.

whom St. or the ap-
court plicant. Mother read.

recom

[dat. mended.

living

2865 A B 16 CD both. Fa- 8

17 none Wea-[none. none E F 1812 distressed for

ther.

ver.

Feb. want of work 42 tidy poor***

The books being prepared, the next step was to enter the names of the streets at the head of every page; the first four columns were then filled up from the recommendations, and above two thousand families entered in this way: the investigation now commenced, and occupied about two months: at the close the particulars of 1504 cases were entered, and furnished a valuable body of evidence, as to the state of a considerable part of Spitalfields and the neighbouring parishes. The misery however thus developed is but a part of what actu