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39
that belong to an ill-regulated intermittent system
in its adaptation to the houses of the poor—evils
which imply, as I have often told you, not only
much domestic dirt, but likewise a frequent suspension
of all efficiency in the drainage of innumerable
houses. With a view to the best alternative
for a continuous supply, I would recommend that
at least a daily filling of all cisternage take place,
and expressly that Sunday form no exception to the
advantages of this rule. If a choice of evils must
be made, I trust it is no heathen's part to urge that
the Christian Sabbath suffers more desecration in
the filth and preventable unwholesomeness of many
thousand households, than in the honest industry
of a dozen turncocks. I likewise submit, that it
would be highly advantageous to the labouring
poor, most of whose domestic cleansing is reserved
for the last day of the week, that, on that day,
a second delivery of water should take place at
some hour in the afternoon.
I wish it were in my power to tell your Honourable
Court that the supply of water to the City of
London had become, in quality, all that I think it
it might be rendered. Such as it is, however, there
depend other very important issues on its being
delivered in ample abundance for all the purposes
of cleanliness ; and I am glad to have learned from
the eminent engineer of the New River Company,
that he has it in expectation very shortly to be able