BY 66 BLANCHARD JERROLD, AUTHOR OF 'THE CHRISTIAN VAGABOND," "THE CHILDREN OF LUTETIA," ETC., ETC. VOL. II. LONDON: W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE 1884. (All Rights Reserved.) 20481.e.4 AT HOME IN PARIS. THE ART OF ALMS IN FRANCE. INTRODUCTION. AN inquiry into the European systems of poor relief; and into the constitution, efficacy, and present condition of the charities and popular provident institutions of the Continent and of America, suggested itself to me on the completion of some studies of the London poor, the poor of Paris, and the food-markets of Normandy and Brittany, which occupied me between 1862 and 1866. In the course of these labours I came necessarily into contact with so many admirable relief plans and private institutions in France, the like of which do not exist in England; that I was gradually led to form the design of strengthening the ground of poor-law reform at home by forming something approaching a methodical statement of the principles and practices of France, Holland, Belgium, Prussia, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, and |