1.The Charities of London. By W. K. Jordan. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1960. Pp. 463. 45s.

Extract

Professor Jordan has now brought out the first of two volumes which are to supply the detailed evidence for the statistical arguments in his study of Philanthropy in England 1480–1660. That book showed that the London merchant classes were among the most active and generous benefactors both in London itself and elsewhere in the kingdom, and the bulk of this one consists of masses of illustrative detail digested under three main heads: the geography of the London parishes; the classes of people and their charitable aims; the classes of charities served. These categories and the main conclusions are familiar from the earlier book which was reviewed at length in these columns (vol.III, pp. 89 ff.). Here, with a wealth of facts and pernickety percentages worked out to two places of decimals, Professor Jordan once again declares that in the century under discussion the rich were remarkably ready to provide for the less fortunate, and that charity was turning from religious to secular purposes. There can be no doubt that his enthusiasm and powers of research make his work an important repository of information, nor that up to a point his arguments carry conviction. Unfortunately, however, the main effect of the new book is to increase one's doubts of his methods and conclusions. And again, these are enforced rather than silenced by his lavishing of superlatives: when one reads that Edward Alleyn, the actor, was ‘almost fanatically interested in the plight of the poor’ because he endowed an almshouse for ten persons, one wonders if Professor Jordan is perhaps employing a different version of the English language.