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appear, therefore, to be unfavorable for any great
increase of the population. I shall, however, discuss
this matter somewhat fully hereafter, when I
come to speak of the prominent facts of the last
ten years; then also I shall take the opportunity of
directing your attention to the influence of the
seasons, and other circumstances, on the birth-rate.
At present it will be sufficient for me to remark,
that, while in England the season which is most
prolific of birth is the spring, in the City of London
it is the winter ; here the smallest number of births
occurs in the summer time, but in the rest of
England it happens in autumn. This would appear
remarkable if we were not acquainted with the
habits of a large section of the labouring classes, who
quit their City homes during the summer and autumn
for employment in the neighbouring counties.
Again, it is my intention to bring prominently
before you the facts which have been observed
respecting the illegitimate births in the City; but I
may here observe, that, whereas in all England the
proportion of illegitimate births amounts to about
65 per 1,000 of all the births; in the City it reaches
to only about 30 per 1,000. And this again might
be made the basis of many ingenious but false
speculations concerning the morality of this great
City. But a knowledge of the manners of the people,
and of the facility with which such marks of shame