But there are---who shall say how many?---people
living in London who live almost alone; who have no
society except of a casual, and what may be called an
anonymous kind; and whose homes are merely places
where they may obtain shelter and rest. I am not here
alluding to the class who are social and domestic outlaws
because they are positively poor. There is no anomaly
in this condition of life; it is a natural consequence of
having no money. The people I mean have mostly
money enough for themselves, but not sufficient to make
them important to others, and obtain for them consideration
in the world. Sometimes their positions have
changed; sometimes things have changed around them
and left their positions as they were, the result being
much the same. It may be that they are seeking to
make a little more money by such employments as agencies,
secretaryships, and so forth---employments the most
difficult of all to get, as any man of moderate education
and abilities can do the duties---but most frequently
they are content to vegetate upon what they have, and to
concentrate themselves upon the attainment of companionship
and home. When one of the active men whom I
have mentioned goes away from home, the Post Office
establishment is ruthlessly disturbed by mandates for the
re-addressing and forwarding of letters. The migration
of one of our passive friends makes no difference to
anybody. Except it be an occasional communication from a
relation in a distant colony, sent to the care of an agent,
he has no letters to trouble him, and if he did not occasionally
make a show of existence by asserting himself in
pen and ink, he might perish out of the memory of man.
To such people the advertising columns of the newspapers
must possess peculiar interest; for a large number of the
announcements seem expressly intended to meet their
requirements, while, on the other hand, an equal number
of the specified "Wants" seem to come from their class.
for the rest of this book, click here
W.S.Gilbert , London Characters and the Humorous Side of London Life, 1870?