All matters connected with the Food Supply to the people of a great and progressive nation may be regarded as of historical interest. I do not on the present occasion propose to do more than glance at some of the incidents which are associated with this large question; but even these, it will be seen, take a much wider range than at first sight might seem probable; and my effort has been rather in the direction of limiting than of expanding the scope of the inquiry, except that I have had to make the survey a national one, and not limit it to any one portion of the kingdom. Of course London, as the capital, and as the usual seat of government during the period our inquiry covers, absorbs the chief attention.