Academic - Scholarly - Primary Sources - Eighteenth-Century History; This important collection will address the rise of plebeian literary culture; debates over the rights of the poor to relief; concerns as to the consequences of overly generous aid, the establishment of innovatively organized charitable responses; and the negotiations of the poor themselves in gaining support. Its novelty lies in the bringing together of voices from all levels of society. The majority of documents assembled here has never been published before: documents for the London Foundling Hospital have not been systematically reproduced before, while a volume on ‘The Refuge for the Destitute’ contains documents which are investigated for the first time. The edition will appeal in particular to scholars of British social history, while the very uniqueness of some of the documents will appeal to historians interested in poverty in a comparative national and international context..