Genre:

Essay, Polemic

Subjects:

Class, Steam-power, Disease, Utilitarianism, Magic, Politics, Charlatanry, Artisans

    Begins by ironically praising Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox (6th Duke of Richmond and 6th Duke of Lennox) for his 'discovery' of the solution to the problem of 'the amelioration of the condition of the labourer'. Like the 'inventor of printing' and the 'discoverer of the motive principle of steam', Richmond's claim to be a 'philanthropic genius' will have rivals. Bitterly reveals that Richmond's solution is simply to 'drink their Health' and sarcastically suggests that the 'necromancy of the toast' is such that it can cause 'a very cloud of Ariels' to bring much-needed food, drink, and happiness to the 'labourer's fireless hearth', and that the duke's words have 'largely benefited, though all unconsciously', the labourer. Proceeds to describe how the labourer, despite his sufferings and those of his family (including sickness, starvation, unjust imprisonment, and death from the winter's cold), can take comfort from the duke's words.