FOOTNOTES:[323:A]The Bishop of Durham, within his Diocese, has many of the privileges of a Lay Peer; and Dr. Talbot had then lately succeeded to that See.[338:A]See London Chronicle, vol. XI. p. 167, for 1762.[353:A]London Chronicle, Feb. 14, 1763.
FOOTNOTES:
[323:A]The Bishop of Durham, within his Diocese, has many of the privileges of a Lay Peer; and Dr. Talbot had then lately succeeded to that See.
[323:A]The Bishop of Durham, within his Diocese, has many of the privileges of a Lay Peer; and Dr. Talbot had then lately succeeded to that See.
[338:A]See London Chronicle, vol. XI. p. 167, for 1762.
[338:A]See London Chronicle, vol. XI. p. 167, for 1762.
[353:A]London Chronicle, Feb. 14, 1763.
[353:A]London Chronicle, Feb. 14, 1763.
CHAP. IX.DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE TRACED FROM ITS ORIGIN TO ITS PRESENT IMPROVED STATE IN LONDON—LIGHTING AND IMPROVING OF STREETS—OBSTRUCTIONS IN THEM—ORNAMENTS,&C.&C.The annual movement of the Sun to the South renders it an indisputable fact, that the Northern climate of England must have made huts or caves indispensibly necessary to the inhabitants, at least five months of each twelve, from the hour that our country was peopled.Ideasare useless on such a subject;sensationis sufficient; and instinct, which compels a brute to seek shelter under ground, or in a hollow tree, from the inclemency of the season, cannot have been so far denied to the Briton as to lead him to other expedients less calculated to answer his purpose. I do not hesitate, therefore, to assert that ourAborigines fortified existence in caverns natural and artificial, and in huts constructed of branches easily separated from trees, and covered or thatched with leaves and dried plants; nay, the piling of flat stones on each other seems an operation so easy and natural, that I cannot conceive why the art should have been imported; indeed, mortar is suggested by wet earth or mud dried on river sides by the air; and who knows but that our mud walls and even mud villages now to be found in numbers North of London may be the traditionary houses of our remotest ancestors[359:A]?After this Island was invaded, the habitations of the various nations which accomplished the invasions were introduced by imitation, and copies of Roman, Saxon, Danish, and Norman houses were doubtlessly common. The Tesselated Pavements and Baths still discovered belong to the first; but their form can only be supposed, I should imagine, from the discoveries at Herculaneum.The Saxons have left us strong and almost eternal proofs of their skill in masonry; but I believe there is little or nothing to be found, the work of their hands, besides Ecclesiastical Buildings andCastles. It is true, the latter werehabitations, but for the rich and powerful alone; the dwellings of the mass of the community were too frail to reach our days.The Danes appear to have done little more than plunder and destroy. The Normans, more politic, imitated the Saxons, and left us Churches and Castellated Mansions; but still we are without domestic architecture. All these facts tend to prove, that our Cities, and even London, consisted almost wholly of wooden or framed houses plastered. Why it was so, is a problem not easily resolved; for, supposing the antient Briton ignorant of masonry before the country was invaded, the Romans immediately introduced the cutting and sculpturing of stone, such cement as we cannot now equal, and the use of bricks. Perhaps, however, the uncertain tenure of all property discouraged the Farmer and Citizen from erecting solid mansions; indeed, they were all soldiers and vassals, and their houses probably were erected by their various masters at the least possible expence. This argument may apply to the time anterior to the Norman invasion; but it will not do after London increased, and the people were made more independent. When property became secure, the houses were certainly slight and combustible; and hence the tremendous fires which have been recorded between the time of William the Conqueror and 1666.Stone was, I presume, almost exclusively used for Palaces and the mansions of the richest Citizens; but that is readily accounted for: Stone requires no great deal of preparation; the facing received the labours of the Sculptor or Mason, but the monstrous thick wall was filled with fragments from the chissel, or rough pebbles. Besides, pillars, mouldings, and fret-work, arose without difficulty from soft stone. Could those embellishments have been produced in brick without infinite trouble? and, would they ever have looked well when joined with mortar? Is it not then plain that the noble ideas of our Princes, Nobles, and other rich men who lavished vast sums on their structures, requiredStoneto embody them; and that, had it been common, Brick would certainly have been rejected by them? The total disuse of brick by the rich deprived the less fortunate Citizen of its advantages. The revival or introduction of any manufacture demands encouragement from the powerful; if that is withheld, who will attempt them merely on disinterested motives? Parsimony in the great revived the art of Brick-making. When a Prince found the price of labour increase, and wished to build, he first stripped the design of his architect of ornament: thus stripped, a plain surface might be composed of any hard substance; Brick naturally occurred, and bricks were made. Still the mass of the people had them not. Theaffluent used them both in London and in the country; but the unhappy publick, fascinated with their Wood and Plaster, at last saw one fatal flame destroy all their frail tenements at one blow. The year 1666 expelled wooden buildings from our Metropolis; and from that year Brick reigned with undiminished sway, has crept beyond all reasonable limits, and even aspired to compose Churches and Chapels.The next object in this difficult article will be the attempt to trace different æras in Domestic Architecture. Unfortunately the fire alluded to has nearly deprived us of a possibility of so doing in London: the most antient specimen there I should suppose to be theecclesiasticallodgings appendant to Westminster Abbey in Dean's-yard. I confess, they are not strictly in point; but I have ventured to mention them, as probably somewhat resembling those of the laity. Their date is previous to 1386, as Abbot Litlington, who built them, died in that year. It will be found that the windows are small and pointed: in this particular they differ from those erected at the same period by Richard II. adjoining the West side of Westminster-hall. Litlington's lodgings are of stone; but the latter is of brick, and perhaps one of the oldest specimens of that material in England, and certainly so in London. Part of it was recently taken down to widen the street, but enough remains to convinceus œconomy prevailed in a very considerable degree at the date of its erection. From the time of Richard II. to that of Henry VIII. brick edifices were erected at intervals. In the reign of Henry VII. the pointed style became so expensive, through the introduction of excessive ornament, that its declination might readily be foreseen: accordingly the rich had recourse to brick; and when Henry VIII. dissolved religious houses, the pious had no motive to continue the use of splendid architecture in erecting or supporting Churches and Abbeys.But I would not be understood to mean that the mansions of men of fortune were uniformly built of brick after Richard II. had introduced the use of it in London: there is at least one proof to the contrary now remaining, in the house of Sir John Crosby, erected soon after 1466. The reader, on referring to a view of that magnificent building inserted in the third volume of "Londinium Redivivum," p. 565, will find Sir John to have excelled the Monarch in his ideas of grandeur; and perceive, besides, that pointed windows with rich mullions were by no means confined to churches and ecclesiastical lodgings; and the roof will convince him that pendents pierced and flattened arches were not first introduced in the reign of Henry VIII.The old gateway of St. James's Palace is a good specimen of brick architecture of that reign.Somerset-house, built in the reign of Edward VI. was an awkward imitation of the Grecian style; and the intercolumniations in several instances were filled with appropriate niches: but the remainder of those of the front had the old English angular window, with mullions of the same figure; the wings were more correct; that part of the Palace which faced the Thames resembled the style of St. James's before Inigo Jones altered it[364:A].If we may credit the date, there is one house in Bishopsgate-street, almost adjoining St. Botolph's church, coæval with Sir John Crosby's, which resembles many others known to have been built in far subsequent periods. Whether the house alluded to of framed wood and plaster is really of the age mentioned is of little importance; but I think it may be safely adduced as a probable type of the mansions of tradesmen of very remote days.Anderson says, in his History of Commerce, that most of the houses in London were thatched with straw in 1246; and that chimneys were not known to the inhabitants of the wooden houses even in 1300. According to this gentleman, they sat round stoves in the midst of smoke, which I suppose he intends to infer escaped through thedoors and windows. The assertion that chimneys werenot knownat that period is confuted by every old Castle in the kingdom. How the poorest classes fared in this particular, is another consideration.The Palace at CroydonBrick gate, near BromleyThere were numbers of private mansions erected in the reigns of Edward, Mary, Elizabeth, and James I.; most of which were of brick with stone quoins, ornaments, and window frames; for instance, Holland and Camden houses, Wyer-hall, the Middle Temple-hall, &c. &c. The windows of those were almost invariably angular and mullioned, and the ornaments resembled the Grecian rather than any other style. The reign of Charles I. was too unfavourable for general safety to admit the erection of many houses; but Inigo Jones appears to have improved the British imitation of the Grecian style almost to perfection. This architect, by elevating his cielings and altering the shape of windows, removed that darkness and gloom which belonged to the preceding æra.Sir Christopher Wren completed the work commenced by Jones, and established the present favourite fashion of building; the gradations of which from splendour to extreme plainness are faithfully delineated in the prints which accompany this Volume. The examiner of those will find that our nobility and other rich persons can accommodate themselves to a house calculated fora man worth less than 200l.per annum, or occupy others of five times the dimensions.We will now return to the more humble classes, and begin with some of the instances spared us by the fire of 1666. To describe those would be useless; prints are superior to the best description: the reader will have the goodness to consult them, and he will find old streets with theprojectinghouses, and single old houses, and one or two sketches from the country to shew the Citizens' place of retirement[366:A].Sir William Davenant drew a ludicrous yet true picture of antient London, which follows, and may be perused with double interest after a survey of the above old streets and houses, and their improved successors.The S. E. corner of GuildhallIn Goswell street Antient inconvenience contrasted with modern convenienceThe old Magazine Hyde ParkThe entrance of great Portland-streetPart of the Priory of the Holy Trinity AldgateWest end of Upper Grosvenor-streetMeux's Brewhouse built about 1796Devonshire HouseThe west end of Upper Brook streetView in Privy gardenIn Hanover SquareMansion at TwickenhamThe East side of Fitzroy SquareThe late Lord Barrymores house PiccadillyLangley HouseThe west side of Cavendish squareThe south side of Fitzroy SquareEntrance to Hyde Park from Park LaneThe Duke of Manchester'sThe Minced Pie house"You of this noble City are yet to become more noble by your candour to the plea between me aBourgeoisof Paris, and my opponent of London; being concerned in honour to lend your attention as favourably to a stranger as to your native orator, since it is the greatest sign of narrow education to permit the borders of rivers, orstrands of seas, to separate the general consanguinity of Mankind, though the unquiet nature of Man (still hoping to shake off distant power), and the incapacity of any one to sway universal empire, hath made them the bounds to divide government. But already I think it necessary to cease persuading you, who will ever deserve to be my judges; and, therefore, mean to apply myself in admonishing him who is pleased to be awhile my adversary."My most opinionated antagonist (for a Londoner's opinion of himself is no less noted than his opinion of his Beef before the Veal of Italy), you should know that the merit of Cities consists not in their fair and fruitful situation, but in the manners of the Inhabitants; for, where the situation excels, it but upbraids their minds if they be not proportionable to it. And, because we should more except against the constancy of minds than their mutability, when they incline to error, I will first take a survey of yours in the long-continued deformity of theshapeof your City, which is of your buildings."Sure your ancestors contrived your narrow streets in the days of wheel-barrows, before those greater enginesCartswere invented. Is your climate sohot, that as you walk you need umbrellas of tiles to intercept the Sun? Or, are your shambles so empty, that you are afraid to take in fresh air, lest it should sharpen yourstomachs? Oh, thegoodlyLandscape ofOld Fish-street! which, had it not had the ill-luck to be crooked, was narrow enough to have been your founder's perspective; and where the garrets (perhaps not for want of architecture, but, throughabundance of amity) are so made, that opposite neighbours may shake hands without stirring from home. Is unanimity of inhabitants in wise Cities better expressed, than by their coherence and uniformity of building, where streets begin, continue, and end in a like stature and shape? But yours (as if they were raised in a general insurrection,where every man hath a several design) differ in all things that can make distinction. Here stands one that aims to be aPalace, and, next it, another that professes to be aHovel. Here a Giant, there a Dwarf; here slender, there broad; and all most admirably different in their faces, as well as in their height and bulk. I was about to defy any Londoner, who dares pretend there is so much ingenious correspondence in this City, as that he can shew me one house like another. Yet your old houses seem to be reverend and formal, being compared to the fantastical works of the moderns; which have more ovals, niches, and angles, than are in your custards, and are enclosed with pasteboard walls, like those of malicious Turks, who, because themselves are not immortal, and cannot ever dwell where they build, therefore will not be atthe charge to provide such lastingness as may entertain their children out of the rain; so slight and so prettily gaudy, that if they could move, they would pass for pageants. It is your custom, where men vary often the mode of their habits, to term the nation fantastical; but, where streets continually change fashion, you should make haste to chain up the City; for it is certainly mad."You would think me a malicious traveller, if I should still gaze on your mis-shapen Streets, and take no notice of the beauty of your River; therefore I will pass the importunate noise of your Watermen (who snatch at fares as if they were to catch prisoners, plying the gentry so uncivilly, as if they had never rowed any other passengers but Bear-wards), and now step into one of your pease-cod Boats, whose tilts are not so sumptuous as the roofs of Gondalo's, nor, when you are within, are you at the ease ofChaise-a-bras. The community and trade of your River belongs to yourselves; but give a Stranger leave to share in the pleasure of it; which will hardly be in the prospect or freedom of air, unless prospect consisting of variety be made with here a Palace, there a wood-yard, here a garden, there a brew-house. Here dwells a Lord, there a Dyer, and between bothDuomo Commune. If freedom of air be inferred in the liberty of the subject, where every private man hath authority, for his ownprofit, to smoke up a Magistrate; then the air of your Thames is open enough, because it is equally free. I will forbear to visit your courtly neighbours at Wapping; not that it will make me giddy to shoot your Bridge, but that I am loth to disturb thecivil silenceof Billingsgate, which is so great as if the Mariners were always landing to storm the Harbour; therefore, for brevity's sake, I will put to shore again, though I should be constrained, even without my Goloshoes, to land at Puddle-dock."I am now returned to visit your Houses, where the roofs (cielings) are so low, that I presume your ancestors were very mannerly, and stood bare to their wives (for I cannot discern how they could wear their high-crowned hats). Yet will I enter; and therefore oblige you much, when you know my aversion to the odour of a certain weed (Tobacco) that governs amongst your coarser acquaintance, as much as Lavender amongst your linen, to which, in my apprehension, your Sea-coal smoke seems a very Portugal perfume. I should here hasten to a period, for fear of suffocation, if I thought you so ungracious to use it in public assemblies; and yet I see it grow so much in fashion, that methinks your children begin to play with broken pipes, instead of corals, to make way for their teeth. You will find my visit short; I cannot stay to eat with you, because your bread is too heavy, andyou disdain the slight sustenance of herbs: your drink is too thick, and yet you are seldom over-curious in washing your glasses. Nor will I lodge with you, because your beds seem, to our alcoves, no bigger than coffins; and your curtains so short, as they will hardly serve to inclose your Carriers in Summer; and may be held, if Taffata, to have lined your Grandsires shirts. But though your houses are thin, yet your kitchens are well lined with beef; and the plentiful exercise of your chimneys makes up that canopy of smoke which covers your City; whilst we on the Continent are well contented with a clear sky, entertain flesh as a regale; and we, your poor French frogs, are fain to sing to sallad. You boast that your servants feed better than masters at Paris; and we are satisfied when ours are better taught than fed. You allow yours idleness and high nourishment, to raise their mettle; which is, to make them rude for the honour of Old-England; we inure ours to labour and temperance, that we may allay them; which is to make them civil for the quiet of France. Yours drink malt, and the strong broth of malt, which makes them bold, hot, and adventurous to be soon in command: ours are cooled with weak water, which doth quench their arrogance, and makes them fit to obey long. We plant the Vineyard, and you drink the Wine; by which you beget good spirits, and we get good money.You keep open houses for all that bring you in mirth, till your estate run out of doors, and find new landlords: we shut our gate to all but such whose conversation brings in profit; and so, by the help of what you call ill-nature and parsimony, have the good luck to keep our inheritance for our issue."Before I leave you in your Houses (where your estates are managed by your servants, and your persons educated by your Wives), I will take a short survey of your Children: to whom you are so terrible, that you seem to make use of authority whilst they are young, as if you knew it would not continue till their manhood: you begin with them in such rough discipline, as if they were born mad, and you meant to fright them into their wits again before they had any to lose. When they increase in years, you make them strangers; keeping them at such distance, out of jealousy they should presume to be your companions, that, when they reach manhood, they use you as if they were none of your acquaintance. If you take pains to teach them any thing, it is only what they should not learn, bashfulness; which you interpret to be their respect to you, but it rather shews they are in trouble, and afraid of you; and not only of you, but all that are older than themselves; as if youth were a crime, or as if you had a greater quarrel to Nature than to the Devil. You seem to teachthem to be ashamed of their persons, even when you are willing to excuse their faults. This education you give them at home; but though you have frequently the pride to disdain the behaviour of other nations, yet you have sometimes the discretion to send your sons abroad to learn it. To Paris they come, the school of Europe; where is taught the approaches and demeanours towards power; where they may learn honour, which is the generous honesty, which is the civil boldness of courts. But there they arrive not to converse with us, but themselves; to see the gates of the Court, not to enter and frequent it; or to take a hasty survey of greatness as far as envy, but not to study it as far as imitation; at last return home, despising those necessary virtues which they took not pains to acquire; and are only ill-altered in their dress and mind, by making that a deformity in seeming over-careful and forced, which we make graceful in being negligent and easy. I have now left your Houses, and am passing through your Streets; but not in a Coach, for they are uneasily hung, and so narrow that I took them for a Sedan upon wheels: nor is it safe for a stranger to use them, till the quarrel be decided, whether six of your nobles, sitting together, shall stop, and give place to as many barrels of beer. Your City is the only Metropolis of Europe where there is a wonderful dignity belonging to Carts. Master Londoner,be not so hot against Coaches: take advice from one who eats much sorrel in his broth. Can you be too civil to such gentry as bravely scorn to be provident?—who, when they have no business here to employ them, nor public pleasures to divert them, yet even then kindly invent occasions to bring them hither, that at your own rates they may change their land for our wares, and have purposely avoided the coarse study of arithmetick, lest they should be able to affront you with examining your accompts."I wonder at your riches, when I see you drink in a morning; but more at your confidence, when I see gray-beards come out of a tavern, and stay at the door to make the last debate of their business; and I am yet more amazed at your health, when I taste your wine; but most of all at your politicks, in permitting such public poisoning, under the style of free mystery, to encourage trade and diligence."I would now make a safe retreat, but that methinks I am stopped by one of your heroic games, calledFoot-ball; which I conceive (under your favour) not very conveniently civil in the streets, especially in such irregular and narrow roads asCrooked-lane. Yet it argues your courage much like your military pastime of Throwing at Cocks. But your mettle would be more magnified (since you have long allowed those valiant exercises in the street) to draw yourArchers from Finsbury, and, during high market, let them shoot at butts in Cheapside. I have now no more to say but what refers to a few private notes, which I shall give you in a whisper when we meet in Moorfields; from whence (because the place was for public pleasure, and to shew the magnificence of your City) I shall desire you to banish the laundresses and bleachers, whose acres of old linen make a show like the fields of Carthagena, when the five months' shifts of the whole fleet are washed and spread."The following letter from the celebrated Erasmus to Dr. Francis, Physician to Cardinal Wolsey, will afford a disgusting view of the interior of common dwellings in the reign of Henry VIII.:"I often wonder, and not without concern, whence it comes to pass, that England for so many years hath been continually afflicted with pestilence; and above all with the sweating-sickness, which seems in a manner peculiar to that country. We read of a City which was delivered from a plague of long continuance, by altering the buildings according to the advice of a certain philosopher. I am much mistaken, if England, by the same method, might not find a cure. First of all, they are totally regardless concerning the aspect of their doors and windows to the East, North, &c. Then they build their chambers so that they admit not a thorough air, which yet, in Galen's opinion, is very necessary. They glaze agreat part of the sides with small panes, designed to admit the light and exclude the wind; but these windows are full of chinks, through which enters a percolated air, which, stagnating in the room, is more noxious than the wind."As to the floors,they are usually made of clay, covered with rushesthat grew in fens, which are so slightly removed now and then, that the lower part remainssometimes for twenty years together, and in it a collection of spittle, vomit, urine of dogs and men, beer, scraps of fish, and other filthiness not to be named. Hence, upon change of weather, a vapour is exhaled, very pernicious, in my opinion, to the human body. Add to this, that England is not only surrounded with the sea, but in many parts is fenny, and intersected with streams of a brackish water; and that salt fish is the common and the favourite food of the poor. I am persuaded that the Island would be far more healthy, if the use of these rushes were quite laid aside, and the chambers so built as to let in the air on two or three sides, with such glass windows as might be either thrown quite open, or kept quite shut, without small crannies to let in the wind. For, as it is useful sometimes to admit a free air, so is it sometimes to exclude it. The common people laugh at a man who complains that he is affected by changeable and cloudy weather; but, for my part, for these thirty years past, if I ever enteredinto a room which had been uninhabited for some months, immediately I grew feverish. It would also be of great benefit, if the lower people could be persuaded to eat less of their salt fish; and if public officers were appointed to see that the streets were kept free from mud and ——, and that not only in the City, but in the Suburbs. You will smile, perhaps, and think that my time lies upon my hands, since I employ it in such speculations; but I have a great affection for a country which received me so hospitably for a considerable time, and I shall be glad to end the remainder of my days in it if it be possible. Though I know you to be better skilled in these things than I pretend to be, yet I could not forbear from giving you my thoughts, that, if we are both of a mind, you may propose the project to men in authority; since even Princes have not thought such regulations to be beneath their inspection."The tyrant who then reigned could not plead ignorance of the causes which almost depopulated London. A physician cannot offend when he talks of health to his patron. Wolsey must have heard the above truths repeated by Francis, and thenameof Erasmus must have enforced his arguments: the haughty Cardinal accomplished far more unworthy objects with his master than a consideration of the health of his people would have been; therefore each were criminal in notdoing that for the benefit of the publick which a nod from absolute power could effect. A despicable disregard of decency evidently prevailed in the royal breasts of the Monarchs who reigned between the Conquest and the great Fire; the plague, the leprosy, and the sweating-sickness, reigned with them; filth in the dark confined streets, and filth in every house, made infection eternal; and yet not one step appears to have been taken in obedience to instinct—Instinct makes a man inimical to dirt.Heaven be praised, old Londonwas burnt. Good reader, turn to the views, in order to see what it has been; observe those hovels convulsed; imagine the chambers within them, and wonder why the plague, the leprosy, and the sweating-sickness, raged. Turn then to the prints illustrative of our present dwellings, and be happy.The misery of 1665 must have operated on the minds of the Legislature and the Citizens, when they rebuilt and inhabited their houses. The former enacted many salutary clauses for the preservation of health, and would have done more, had not the publick rejected that which was for their benefit; those who preferred high habitations and narrow dark streets had them. It is only to be lamented, that we are compelled to suffer for their folly. These errors are now frequently partially removed by the exertion ofthe Corporation of London; but a complete reformation is impossible.It is a fallacy to say that the New River now exclusivelypreventsinfectious disorders by the distribution of its water through the City, as it is well known to have been introduced to the houses very many years before 1665. It is to the improved dwellings composed of brick, the wainscot or papered walls, the high cielings, the boarded floors, and large windows, and cleanliness, that we are indebted for the general preservation of health since 1666. From that auspicious year the very existence of the natives of London improved; their bodies moved in a large space of pure air; and, finding every thing clean and new around them, they determined to keep them so. Previously-unknown luxuries and improvements in furniture were suggested; and a man of moderate fortune saw his house vie with, nay superior to, the old palaces of his governors. When he paced his streets, he felt the genial Western breeze pass him, rich with the perfumes of the country, instead of the stench described by Erasmus; and looking upward, he beheld the beautiful blue of the air, variegated with fleecy clouds, in place of projecting black beams and plaster, obscured by vapour and smoke. But there were other blessings, which he thought not of, that are attained by his successors; and those I shall proceed to describe chronologically, afterintroducing the assertions of M. de Grosley on the state of London with respect to Cleanlinesscirca1750. That gentleman observes, in his Tour to London, that "the plate, hearth-stones (generally marble), moveables, apartments, doors, stairs, the very street-doors, their locks, and the large brass knockers (almost exclusively iron at present), are every day washed, scowered, or rubbed. Even in lodging-houses, the middle of the stairs is often covered with carpeting, to prevent them from being soiled. All the apartments in the house have mats or carpets; and the use of them has been adopted some years since by the French."The streets of London must have been dangerously dark during the winter nights before it was burnt: lanterns with candles were very sparingly scattered, nor was light much better distributed even in the new streets previous to the last century.Globular lamps were introduced by Michael Cole, who obtained a patent July 1708; a copy of the docquet for which follows: "A grant unto Michael Cole, gent. of the sole use and benefit in England and Ireland of his invention of anew kind of Light, composed of one entire glass of a globular shape, with a lamp, which will give a clearer and more certain light from all parts thereof, without any dark shadows or what else may be confounding or troublesome to the sight,than any other Lamps that have hitherto been in use: To hold to the said Michael Cole, his executors, administrators, and assigns, during the term of fourteen years; with a proviso, that the said invention shall not before the determination of the term of twenty-one years (which commenced June 24, 1694) be used within the City of London, or the liberties thereof, to the prejudice of the proprietors of the public glass lights calledConvex lights, now usedin the said City and liberties thereof; and such other provisos, prohibitions, and clauses are inserted, as were directed by warrant under her Majesty's Royal sign manual. Subscribed by Mr. Solicitor General."John Woodeson,Dep. to SirGeorge Piers,Bart."Cole first exhibited his Globe Lamp at the door of the St. James's Coffee-house in 1709, and attended there to answer queries relating to it. He afterwards offered to dispose of his patent for the benefit of this Kingdom, as he resided in Ireland.The ensuing report was made September 17, 1736, by Alderman Alsop and Godschall, and eight Common Council-men, appointed a Committee to consider in what manner the Act of Parliament "for the better enlightening the streets of London" might be put in execution."There were 1287 houses under the rent of 10l.per annum; 4741 of 10l.and under 20l.;3045 of 20l.and under 30l.; 1849 of 30l.and under 40l.; and 3092 of 40l.and upwards. In all 14,014 houses, then inhabited and chargeable; which were about 400 less than the Committee imagined. The number of lamps required was 4200, exclusive of those wanted for public buildings and void places, fixed at twenty-five yards distance on each side of the way in the high streets, and at thirty-five in lesser streets, lanes, &c. The several Wards of the City agreed for the lighting them at an average of 41s.per annum perlamp, at which rate the expence of the 4200 amounted to 8610l.The fixing of those on posts and irons, averaged at 14s.6d.each, 3045l.; total expence 5628l.The rates to supply which sum were fixed as follows: Houses under 10l.—3s.6d.per annum; under 20l.—7s.6d.; under 30l.—8s.; under 40l.—9s.6d.; upwards of 40l.—12s."The above particulars will be sufficient to explain the manner in which London and Westminster is now lighted. The only variety that has since occurred is, the converting of the shape of the lamps from a globular form to that of a bell, and affixing them to the iron railing of the area and houses. Several attempts to introduce strong reflectors have failed, as it has been uniformly found that they injure and confuse the sight.The shop-keepers of London are of infinite service to the rest of the inhabitants by their liberal use of the Patent Lamp, to shew their commodities during the long evenings of winter. The parish lamps glimmer above them, and are hardly distinguishable before ten o'clock.The first essential improvement of London, after the re-building of the City, was the filling of Fleet-ditch, and forming the streets where the market is situated; and the next, the continuation of the plan to Blackfriars-bridge. The latter was suggested by the success of Westminster-bridge; and the removal of the houses and widening of the arches of London-bridge proceeded from perceiving the neat appearance and superior accommodations of the new ones.The following is a list of "Openings to be made in the City of London, pursuant to an Act of Parliament" passed in the Session of 1760."In Aldersgate Ward. A passage twenty feet wide, from the East side of Aldersgate-street (opposite to Little Britain) to the West of Noble-street, opposite to Oat-lane; and through Wood-street, opposite to Love-lane.In Aldgate Ward. A passage fifty feet wide, from the Mason's shop facing Crutched-friars, in a direct line to the Minories.A passage, twenty-five feet wide, through Northumberland-alley, into Crutched-friars.In Bishopsgate Ward. A passage, twenty-five feet wide, through Angel-court, in Bishopsgate-street, into Little St. Helen's.A passage, twenty feet wide, from Broad-street, through Union-court, into Bishopsgate-street.In Coleman-street Ward. A passage, fifty feet wide, from Tokenhouse-yard to London-wall.In Farringdon Ward Within. A passage through Cock-alley, on Ludgate-hill, opposite to the Old Bailey, forty feet wide, into Blackfriars.A passage, twenty-five feet wide, from Butcher-hall-lane, into Little-Britain.In Farringdon Ward Without. A passage, thirty feet wide, in the middle of Snow-hill, to the Fleet-market.The following passages are to be improved and enlarged.In Aldgate Ward. The East side of Billiter-lane, to enlarge the passage thirty feet.The East end of Leadenhall-street, to be thirty-five feet wide.Part of the houses on the East side of Poor Jewry-lane, beginning at the North side of the Horse and Trumpet, and extending to Gould-square, to range in a line with that end of thelane next to Aldgate; the passage to be made thirty-five feet wide.In Broad-street Ward. The House to be pulled down at the West end of the buildings between Cornhill and Threadneedle-street, opposite to the South end of Princes-street, and the ground laid into the street.Houses to be pulled down on the South side of Threadneedle-street, extending from the house before-mentioned Eastward, till that part of the street opposite to the Bank gates; and the passage there enlarged to thirty-five feet in width.Coleman-street Ward. One house on the N. E. corner of the Old Jewry, and another house at the S. W. corner of Coleman-street, and the ground laid into the street.Cordwainers' Ward. The house at the N. E. corner of Trinity-lane, near the Dog Tavern, and the ground laid into the street.In Cornhill Ward. The house at the West end of the buildings between Cornhill and Lombard-street, and the ground laid into the street.In Cripplegate Ward Within. The houses which project forwards at the West end of Silver-street, from the end of Monkwell-street, quite through into Aldersgate-street, to make a street forty feet wide.The house at the corner of Aldermanbury, facing Milk-street, and the ground laid into the street.In Farringdon Ward Within. The Tin-shop and the Trunk-maker's house, at the S. W. corner of Cheapside, leading into St. Paul's Church-yard, and the ground laid into the street.Such part of the houses in Creed-lane as are necessary to widen the passage to thirty feet.In Farringdon Ward Without. All the houses in Middle-row between the paved alley, adjoining to St. Sepulchre's church and Giltspur-street, from the North end quite through to the South end, facing Hart-street, and the ground laid into the street.All the houses in Middle-row, between the Great and Little Old Bailey, from the North end facing Hart-street, to the Baptist's Head at the South end, facing the Great Old Bailey, and the ground laid into the street.The shops under St. Dunstan's church in Fleet-street, and the ground laid into the street.In Langbourn Ward. Such part of the houses at the end of Mark-lane, next to Fenchurch-street, as will make the passage there thirty feet wide.Such part of the houses at the East end of Lombard-street, as will make the passage there thirty feet wide.In Portsoken Ward. The house at the N. E. corner of Houndsditch, adjoining to the church-yard, and the ground laid into the street.In Tower Ward. Such part of the houses on St. Dunstan's-hill, adjoining to the George Alehouse, and opposite to the Chain, and such part of the warehouses opposite to the end of St. Dunstan's Church, as will make the passage thirty feet wide.The house on the N. W. corner of Great Tower-street, and also the house on the S. E. corner of Little Tower-street, occupied by Messrs. Julon and Lidner, to make a convenient passage.The house in Mark-lane which adjoins to All-hallows Staining, and projects twelve feet before the other houses, to make it range in a line with the other houses, and enlarge the passage.In Vintry Ward. The houses on the North side of Thames-street which reach from Elbow-lane to College-hill, and also those on the South side of the said street which reach from Vintner's-hall to Bull-wharf-lane, in order to make the street forty feet wide.The house at the corner of Tower-royal, facing College-hill, to be pulled down, and the ground laid into the street.In Walbrook Ward. The house at the N. E. corner of Bucklersbury, which projects before the other buildings.In Bishopsgate Ward. The two houses between New Broad-street and New Broad-street-buildings."The removal of all the City Gates promoted a better circulation of air; and London Wall gave place near Moorgate to a fine new street.It has ever been the practice of the London builders to erect houses at the least possible expence, because their tenures are almost exclusively leasehold. Hence it is that the Editors of the Newspapers of the last century were compelled from time to time to notice the horrid effects produced by the fall of those frail buildings. I am fully convinced, that not less than one hundred lives have been lost in this way between 1700 and 1807; and that at least three times as many persons were maimed. The publick justly condemned the supineness of their officials in not preventing occurrences of this description; and the compilers of the London Chronicle say in October 1760, "In one of the morning papers is a complaint of the present method of letting leases of the City Lands, and other estates of public bodies. It is not sufficient to build Bridges; it is not enough to widen and improve Streets and Passages: no, we should examine farther. Consider what the Houses are: they are all superannuated; the City is worn out; the major part of the houses have stood much longer than they should,many years longer than they were built for; and, instead of being rebuilt as the leases expire, or any thing done to aggrandise and render the Cityconspicuous, equal to the other improvements, they are advertised again on repairing leases, and are so shamefully propped up from time to time that the City must come to decay: nay, it will be even hazardous to walk the streets."Though the latter assertion rather exceeds the truth, it will be recollected that Houghton-street Clare-market, Wapping, the neighbourhood of Bishopsgate-street, and Billingsgate, have very recently proved that fatal consequences attend the parsimony of those landlords who repair when they should rebuild; and I think I may safely declare that there are at this moment at least 3000 houses in a dangerous state of ruin within London and Westminster, which may hereafter make their owners repent the indulgence of their avarice. He that observes the present miserable representatives of bricks anddirtmortar constantly ascending in tottering piles around him, cannot wonder that houses sometimes fall with their own weight ere they are finished; and he must anticipate future consequences. The Legislature wisely enacted regulations to prevent the communication of accidental fires; but more remains to be done—let them ordain that bricks and mortar should hereafter be of a certain standard, under a heavy fine and imprisonment; and that surveyors should be appointed to order the demolition of new houses built in opposition to the clauses of the Act.The reader whoadmiresadulteration may findenough of it thus noticed in the London Chronicle, June 2, 1764. This article evinces that I am not the first person who has reprobated the London brick-maker. "We have long complained ofalumbread, of small beer brewed withtreacle and water, and porter withoutmalt or hops. No one is now ignorant, that half of the best rums and brandies are butmalt spirits; and that the quantity of port-wine which is drunk in England, by the help ofAlicantandother mixtures, more than doubly exceeds what is annually imported. And every family at this time is lamenting the unmerciful roguery of forestallers and engrossers, and those who increase the price upon all adulterated commodities, without any feeling for the consumer. But we take not the least notice of a practice that seems more hurtful to the community than any of the above—the present method of making bricks."If you go to the remains of London Wall, or examine any old brick buildings, you will find it more difficult to pull it down, than it was for the architect to raise it; but let any person attend to the continual accounts given in the papersof the number of half-built houses that tumble down before they can be finished, and he will tremble for those who are to inhabit the many piles of new buildings that are daily rising in this metropolis. When we consider the practice among some of the brick-makers about the town, we shall not wonderat this consequence, though we must shudder at the evil. The increase of buildings has increased the demand, and consequently the price of bricks. The demand for bricks has raised the price of brick-earth so greatly, that the makers are tempted to mixthe slop of the streets,ashes,scavengers dirt, and every thing that will make the brick-earth or clay go as far as possible. It is said the price of this brick-earth is more than doubled within these two or three years. The Scavenger, unwilling to be behind with the Landholder, has doubled the price of ashes, trebled the price of cinders, and charges a considerable price for the filth, mud, and what they call the slop of the streets. This slop makes near one half of the composition that is to raise the enormous and very numerous buildings which are to unite London with Highgate, Bromley, Rumford, and Brentford, within these five years; unless, what seems very possible, the bricklayers, carpenters, and masons, with all their labourers and workmen, are overwhelmed in the ruins of their own buildings before the plan is finished. The Legislature has provided for our safety against the roguery of the Builders; but, unless the materials of which the bricks are made shall be taken into consideration, London may shortly resemble the City of Lisbon, without the intervention of an Earthquake."When the Corporation of London had determined in 1766 to remove many of the inconveniences and obstructions then common in the City of London, it appeared in evidence that the Streets were generally badly paved, very dirty, and not sufficiently lighted; and that the Signs prevented a free circulation of the air and view of the Streets, while the Posts contributed to impede the passenger. Nor were the Penthouses less injurious; those, loaded with flower-pots, often occasioned dangerous hurts by the fall of the latter; and the watering of the plants in them contributed, with the projecting spouts, in rainy weather, to sluice the Citizen, who at the same time steered his undulating or zig-zag way through wheelbarrows and bawling owners. Another comfort peculiar to this period was the ambition of Shop-keepers, who encroached upon the footways by bow-windows. When an example was set, the whole fraternity, fired with emulation, thrust each new one beyond his neighbour. Such were the impediments to walking so recently as 1766! The reader may imagine how a Londoner must have felt during a high wind and shower; a thousand signs swinging on rusty hinges above him, threatening ruin to his person at every step, and a thousand spouts pouring cascades at his luckless head.The extravagant use of Signs had been complained of early in the century, when they weredescribed as very large, very fine with gilding and carving, and very absurd.Goldenperriwigs, saws, axes, razors, trees, lancets, knives, salmon, cheese, blacks' heads with gilt hair, half-moons, sugar-loaves, and Westphalia hams, were repeated without mercy from the Borough to Clerkenwell, and from Whitechapel to the Haymarket; but a person who knew what they were much better than myself thus described them under the signature of A. B. in one of the newspapers of 1764: "In the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV. the inhabitants of the City of Paris were ever complaining how sick the City was, and how fast they died: upon which, Louis consulted the Medical people what could be the cause of it: and they all agreed, that it was owing to the largeness of the Signs, which choaked up the free circulating air, which ever administers to health; upon which an edict was published, that no Sign should be more than 18 inches by 12, and all the iron perhaps may weigh four or five pounds; and I do suppose that some of the Sign-irons in London weigh four or five hundred, and some a great deal more. Soon after this edict was published, it was declared by the inhabitants, that they found a sensible difference in their healths. The general run of their streets are a little wider than Paternoster-row; a few much wider, and a great many not so wide."Now, when the wind blows hard upon a very broad Sign, with a great weight of Iron on the front of the house, I often wonder, that the fronts do not fall oftener than they do. In the year 1718, the front of a house, opposite Bride-lane in Fleet-street, fell down, and killed two young ladies, a cobler, and the King's Jeweller. This you may depend upon as a truth; many others were maimed, and a few more were killed, I cannot say how many: this was done by the wind blowing hard against the large Sign and Iron. These gorgeous Signs are to draw in customers; but, if they were all upon a footing, and our signs and callings were wrote as they are in the Strand, would not every body be the better for it, and a great deal of money be saved into the bargain? First, they would save their money; secondly, render the City more healthy; and thirdly, prevent people's brains being knocked out," &c. &c.The suggestions of this and other good citizens were at length attended to; and the Court of Common Council appointed a Committee, in the same year, to consider of some method by which they might accomplish the removal of Signs and Water-spouts, and cause the former to be affixed to the fronts of houses flat against the wall, and the latter to be so contrived as to discharge their contents without annoying passengers. The gentlemen commissioned for the above purpose weredirected besides to arrange a plan for inscribing the names of streets, lanes, and alleys, on their corners.Soon after the above appointment, the Newspaper-writers frequently noticed the alteration of Signs; and the inhabitants of Shug-lane appear to have led the way in putting the Act of Parliament in execution, sanctioning the general improvement of London and Westminster. In addition to the names of streets placed on the corners, the Nobility then introduced brass plates or door-plates with their names engraved on them; and the numbering of the houses completed this portion of the great work of amendment.The streets of London were extremely inconvenient before this period, as the kennels were in the midst, and the stones of the pavements round; nor was there, as at present, a smooth footway for the pedestrian. A meeting of the Commissioners for the re-paving of London was held in June 1766, when Aberdeen granite was adopted, and Charles Whitworth, Esq. contracted for the performance; but the Commissioners for paving the squares, streets, and lanes of Westminster, had issued the following intimation in March 1763:"Notice is hereby given, that they intend new paving Parliament-street, Charing Cross, Cockspur-street, and Pall Mall; for which purpose the following Proposals are advertised,viz."1st, For furnishing Edinburgh stones, or stones of the like quality, for the carriage-way of the said streets, at the Quarry, according to the dimensions following,viz.of four and five inches thick (and a few of six for the kennels), and not less than nine inches deep, and for delivering the same at the places where they may be most conveniently shipped.2dly, For freight and delivery at such wharf or wharfs, near Westminster-bridge, as the Commissioners shall direct.3dly, For carriage from the said wharf or wharfs to the said streets, or any of them, as the Surveyor shall direct.4thly, For paving of the carriage-way of the said streets with the said stones, supplying the best Thames sand, labourers, and all incidental charges (except only removing the old pavement, and leveling the ground), according to such dimensions as shall be set out by the Surveyor, and under such inspection of the Surveyor as is directed by the Act of Parliament.5thly, For paving the footways of the said streets with the best Purbeck pavement, and a curb of Purbeck or Moor stone twelve inches broad, and seven inches thick, leveling the ground, finding all materials and workmanship, according to such levels and such dimensions as shall be directed and appointed by the Surveyor, and under his inspection, as the said Act directs;as likewise for re-laying such part of the old footways as shall be directed by the Surveyor.6thly, Persons willing to contract may make their Proposals for the whole, or any part, of the said works; and for keeping the same in repair for the term of ten years; the said works being to be completed within one year from the 3d of May next.Note, The number of square yards of the carriage-way is about 20,000; and the quantity of stones to be contracted for will be 7000 tons, to be delivered in London, within the space of one year from the 3d of May 1763 to the 3d of May 1764, according to the following proportions,viz.600 tons in the month of May, 800 tons in each of the months of June, July, August, and September, 500 in October, 400 in each of the months of November, December, and January, and 500 tons in each of the months of February, March, and April.Proposals in writing, sealed up, to be delivered in at Westminster-bridge office, Old Palace-yard, Westminster, on or before Tuesday the 12th of April next.By order of the Commissioners,George Box,Clerk."As St. James's-street now is, nothing can be more convenient than the gradual declination from Piccadilly to the Palace. That the houses on each side of the way have been almost entirelyrebuilt since the year 1765, will pretty plainly appear from the ensuing lively paper, inserted in the London Chronicle August 15, 1765:"We have read a great deal in your paper about Liberty, Mr. Printer; give me leave to say a word or two about Property, which, talk as they please, the greatest part of mankind reckon the most valuable of the two. Our sensible forefathers, in framing the Streets of this great City, preferred utility to ornament; and, in St. James's-street, they were very industrious, that the paving of that uneven ground should not prejudice the property of any individual.—Their wiser sons have wished to reverse this practice, and have been full as industrious in conforming the buildings to the Scotch paving. The descent from the upper to the lower end of this street being so very steep, has brought very whimsical distresses upon many of the inhabitants—some of the ground-floors, that were almost level with the street, are now eight, nine, and some ten steps, and those very steep, from the ground; while others, to which you used to ascend by three or four steps, are now as many below the surface. Cellars are now above ground, and some gentlemen are forced to dive into their own parlours. Many laughable accidents too have happened from this new method of turning the world upside-down: some persons, not thinking of the late alterations, attempting to knock at their own door,have frequently tumbled up their new-erected steps, while others, who have been used to ascend to their threshold, have as often, for the same reason, tumbled down; and their fall had been the greater, from their lifting up their legs to ascend as usual. An old gouty friend of mine complains heavily; he has lain, he says, upon the ground-floor for these ten years, and he chose the house he lives in because there was no step to the door; and now he is obliged to mount at least nine, before he can get into his bedchamber, and the entrance into his house is at the one pair of stairs. A neighbour too complains he has lost a good lodger, because he refused to lower the price of his first floor, which the gentleman insisted he ought, as the lodgings are now up two pair of stairs. Many of the street doors are not above five feet high; and the owners, when they enter their houses, seem as if they were going into a dog-kennel rather than their own habitations. To say the truth, no fault can be imputed to the trustees: but many are great sufferers; and this method of making the houses conform to the ornamental paving, is something like the practice of Procrustes, the robber, who made a bed of certain dimensions, and whoever was put into it, had his legs cut shorter if they were too long, or stretched out if they were too short, till the poor wretch was precisely of the length with the bed."I am, Sir, yours, &c."Anti-Procrustes."The exertions of our fathers in the general improvement of houses and streets have leftuslittle to do. Pure air, so essential to the preservation of life, now circulates freely through thenewstreets; squares, calculated for ornament, health, and the higher ranks of the community, are judiciously dispersed, and their centres converted into beautiful gardens; the tall houses have a sufficient number of large windows; the areas in front are wide, and handsomely railed with cast iron; lamps on scrollwork are suspended at due distances from each other; and admirable level smooth footways of great breadth protect the passenger from the carts and carriages, separated from him by a curb stone raised several inches above spacious kennels, through which the water from showers passes and descends into large drains, communicating with vast sewers many feet below the level of the street.There are salutary laws providing for the performance of those acts of cleanliness which individuals might neglect or omit. The inmates of every house will of course cleanse the steps leading to it; but they will notuniversallyremove the soil from their pavements. The law commands them to do soeverymorning under a penalty of 5s.; and yet there are very few who walk the narrow streets of London in winter can forget the retrograde motion of their feet on the deep mud when the pavements are—greasy. Sir William Curtis, when Lord Mayor, recently determined to enforce the law—and very honourablyfined himself.Scavengers are appointed to sweep the carriage-ways, and carry off the dirt; and yet there are places to be found where brooms have not always done their duty. The publick are very properly forbid to throw any kind of dust into the streets, and are ordered to reserve it for the Dustman, who is enjoined to call for it frequently; and yet I was once informed by a housekeeper that their Parish Dustman had not honoured them with a visitfor six long weeks. The renters of single rooms, in first, second, and third floors, in mean streets, feel themselvesaboverestraint. Those people empty dirty water mixed with their offals into the gutters, the stench of which is appalling; but I forget, they certainly do not offend against the law—it isdust, notwater dirtied, or mixed with dust and vegetables, which they are forbidden to deposit in the streets.Let me not neglect in this survey the laudable efforts of the Sweepers male and female, who, stationed at corners and crossings, faithfully remove every appearance of soil from the stones for the casual receipt of half-pence. They are undoubtedly an useful body, and they have my commendations accordingly.Beer-houses, or, as they are generally termed, Public Houses, render our streets extremely unpleasant in summer; but delicacy forbids my adding more on the subject. Would that equaldelicacy in the keepers wouldturn their customers backwards!So much for the Streets. Repairing-leases contribute greatly to the handsome appearance of the Houses; every thing is in order; and the clause for painting the fronts triennally keeps the woodwork as clean and bright as our fogs and the coal smoke will permit. The shop-keeper prides himself on the neatness of his shop-front; his little portico, and the pilasters and cornices, are imitations of Lydian, serpentine, porphyry, and verde antique marbles; and those who have the good fortune to serve any branch of the Royal Family immediately place large sculptures of their several arms and supporters over their doors, and their own names and business in golden characters. The great windows of large panes exhibit the richest manufactures, and the doors of the Linen drapers are closed by draperies of new muslins and calicoes. Some wags pretend indeed that the tradesman has a double motive in this proceeding—the darkening of his premises to prevent keen eyes from discovering coarse threads, and embellishing his shop.The Goldsmiths and Jewellers, and some Pawnbrokers, indulge the publick with the view of diamonds, pearls, rubies, emeralds, gold, and silver, in most fascinating quantities; but the Watch-makers and Glassmen eclipse all competitorsin the display of fanciful clocks set in alabastor, ormolu, gold and silver, and the richest cut glass lighted by patent lamps at night. The Bookseller exposes copies of the most expensive works in his windows, and the Printsellers those of the best artists. The Undertaker covers his panes with escutcheons, crowns, coronets, and mitres of gold; and contrives to introduce the lid of a little velvet coffin, which is intended to lead the eye to full-sized real ones preparing for the dead.The Lottery-office-keeper attracts a crowd by numbers of tickets and shares disposed for sale, and always places a papermementoat the elbow, of "No. &c. &c. sold at this office in the last lottery, drawn a prize of 30,000l." Hence the Lucky Office andOnlyLucky Office[403:A].The retailer of Quack Medicines covers every pane of his shop-windows with the bills of different compounders of nostrums, and the angles between the paper and the sashes with transparent vivid colours; and the Proprietors of Newspapers seize upon every battle or capture as fair opportunities for pasting large pieces of paper together, which they inscribe "Sixth edition," &c. &c. and suspend from the top to the bottom of theircasements; while their myrmidons the Newsmen reiterate the "Sixth edition" with distended lungs in the short intervals between the—I had almost said—infernal blasts of their tin trumpets. Let the purchaser, however, beware the Newsman doth not give him a paper or gazette—three weeks old—in the hurry of the moment!Such are the methods adopted by the London Tradesmen to attract attention, and such the appearance of the lower part of their Houses: indeed, Commodities are now generally used in place of the antient Signs. One of theirabsurditiesdeserves reprehension: when a man has a front door between two windows, or a door on the right side of a window, he will have his name over the door, and his business on the friezes of the windows; for instance,WindowDoorWindowGoldsmith andBrownJeweller, &c.instead of "Brown, goldsmith and jeweller." The nonsense produced in this way is sometimes incredibly ludicrous. I once observed the words "Preston, Nightman, and Rubbish carted," so placed that they conveyed an idea of a partnership "Preston andRubbish."View in Hyde ParkView in Park-laneWestminster AbbeyWestminster AbbeyPart of Westminster bridgeWestminster from MilbankThe noble fronts of the several Banking-houses and Insurance offices, many of the latter withfine emblematic statues over the doors, are great ornaments to the streets of London.The interior architecture of our dwellings is generally very convenient; but I could wish that the kitchens might henceforward be erected behind the house, that no human being should be immersed in damp, and blinded with darkness, as our servants now are, seven or eight feet below the surface of the street.It will be perceived that every thing under this article has now been noticed which is independent of the information already given in "Londinium Redivivum." I shall, therefore, conclude it with referring the reader to the annexed Prints, where he will find sketches of various parts of London which I have considered as the most picturesque, the whole contributing to illustrate thegeneral characterof the Metropolis.
DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE TRACED FROM ITS ORIGIN TO ITS PRESENT IMPROVED STATE IN LONDON—LIGHTING AND IMPROVING OF STREETS—OBSTRUCTIONS IN THEM—ORNAMENTS,&C.&C.
DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE TRACED FROM ITS ORIGIN TO ITS PRESENT IMPROVED STATE IN LONDON—LIGHTING AND IMPROVING OF STREETS—OBSTRUCTIONS IN THEM—ORNAMENTS,&C.&C.
The annual movement of the Sun to the South renders it an indisputable fact, that the Northern climate of England must have made huts or caves indispensibly necessary to the inhabitants, at least five months of each twelve, from the hour that our country was peopled.Ideasare useless on such a subject;sensationis sufficient; and instinct, which compels a brute to seek shelter under ground, or in a hollow tree, from the inclemency of the season, cannot have been so far denied to the Briton as to lead him to other expedients less calculated to answer his purpose. I do not hesitate, therefore, to assert that ourAborigines fortified existence in caverns natural and artificial, and in huts constructed of branches easily separated from trees, and covered or thatched with leaves and dried plants; nay, the piling of flat stones on each other seems an operation so easy and natural, that I cannot conceive why the art should have been imported; indeed, mortar is suggested by wet earth or mud dried on river sides by the air; and who knows but that our mud walls and even mud villages now to be found in numbers North of London may be the traditionary houses of our remotest ancestors[359:A]?
After this Island was invaded, the habitations of the various nations which accomplished the invasions were introduced by imitation, and copies of Roman, Saxon, Danish, and Norman houses were doubtlessly common. The Tesselated Pavements and Baths still discovered belong to the first; but their form can only be supposed, I should imagine, from the discoveries at Herculaneum.
The Saxons have left us strong and almost eternal proofs of their skill in masonry; but I believe there is little or nothing to be found, the work of their hands, besides Ecclesiastical Buildings andCastles. It is true, the latter werehabitations, but for the rich and powerful alone; the dwellings of the mass of the community were too frail to reach our days.
The Danes appear to have done little more than plunder and destroy. The Normans, more politic, imitated the Saxons, and left us Churches and Castellated Mansions; but still we are without domestic architecture. All these facts tend to prove, that our Cities, and even London, consisted almost wholly of wooden or framed houses plastered. Why it was so, is a problem not easily resolved; for, supposing the antient Briton ignorant of masonry before the country was invaded, the Romans immediately introduced the cutting and sculpturing of stone, such cement as we cannot now equal, and the use of bricks. Perhaps, however, the uncertain tenure of all property discouraged the Farmer and Citizen from erecting solid mansions; indeed, they were all soldiers and vassals, and their houses probably were erected by their various masters at the least possible expence. This argument may apply to the time anterior to the Norman invasion; but it will not do after London increased, and the people were made more independent. When property became secure, the houses were certainly slight and combustible; and hence the tremendous fires which have been recorded between the time of William the Conqueror and 1666.
Stone was, I presume, almost exclusively used for Palaces and the mansions of the richest Citizens; but that is readily accounted for: Stone requires no great deal of preparation; the facing received the labours of the Sculptor or Mason, but the monstrous thick wall was filled with fragments from the chissel, or rough pebbles. Besides, pillars, mouldings, and fret-work, arose without difficulty from soft stone. Could those embellishments have been produced in brick without infinite trouble? and, would they ever have looked well when joined with mortar? Is it not then plain that the noble ideas of our Princes, Nobles, and other rich men who lavished vast sums on their structures, requiredStoneto embody them; and that, had it been common, Brick would certainly have been rejected by them? The total disuse of brick by the rich deprived the less fortunate Citizen of its advantages. The revival or introduction of any manufacture demands encouragement from the powerful; if that is withheld, who will attempt them merely on disinterested motives? Parsimony in the great revived the art of Brick-making. When a Prince found the price of labour increase, and wished to build, he first stripped the design of his architect of ornament: thus stripped, a plain surface might be composed of any hard substance; Brick naturally occurred, and bricks were made. Still the mass of the people had them not. Theaffluent used them both in London and in the country; but the unhappy publick, fascinated with their Wood and Plaster, at last saw one fatal flame destroy all their frail tenements at one blow. The year 1666 expelled wooden buildings from our Metropolis; and from that year Brick reigned with undiminished sway, has crept beyond all reasonable limits, and even aspired to compose Churches and Chapels.
The next object in this difficult article will be the attempt to trace different æras in Domestic Architecture. Unfortunately the fire alluded to has nearly deprived us of a possibility of so doing in London: the most antient specimen there I should suppose to be theecclesiasticallodgings appendant to Westminster Abbey in Dean's-yard. I confess, they are not strictly in point; but I have ventured to mention them, as probably somewhat resembling those of the laity. Their date is previous to 1386, as Abbot Litlington, who built them, died in that year. It will be found that the windows are small and pointed: in this particular they differ from those erected at the same period by Richard II. adjoining the West side of Westminster-hall. Litlington's lodgings are of stone; but the latter is of brick, and perhaps one of the oldest specimens of that material in England, and certainly so in London. Part of it was recently taken down to widen the street, but enough remains to convinceus œconomy prevailed in a very considerable degree at the date of its erection. From the time of Richard II. to that of Henry VIII. brick edifices were erected at intervals. In the reign of Henry VII. the pointed style became so expensive, through the introduction of excessive ornament, that its declination might readily be foreseen: accordingly the rich had recourse to brick; and when Henry VIII. dissolved religious houses, the pious had no motive to continue the use of splendid architecture in erecting or supporting Churches and Abbeys.
But I would not be understood to mean that the mansions of men of fortune were uniformly built of brick after Richard II. had introduced the use of it in London: there is at least one proof to the contrary now remaining, in the house of Sir John Crosby, erected soon after 1466. The reader, on referring to a view of that magnificent building inserted in the third volume of "Londinium Redivivum," p. 565, will find Sir John to have excelled the Monarch in his ideas of grandeur; and perceive, besides, that pointed windows with rich mullions were by no means confined to churches and ecclesiastical lodgings; and the roof will convince him that pendents pierced and flattened arches were not first introduced in the reign of Henry VIII.
The old gateway of St. James's Palace is a good specimen of brick architecture of that reign.Somerset-house, built in the reign of Edward VI. was an awkward imitation of the Grecian style; and the intercolumniations in several instances were filled with appropriate niches: but the remainder of those of the front had the old English angular window, with mullions of the same figure; the wings were more correct; that part of the Palace which faced the Thames resembled the style of St. James's before Inigo Jones altered it[364:A].
If we may credit the date, there is one house in Bishopsgate-street, almost adjoining St. Botolph's church, coæval with Sir John Crosby's, which resembles many others known to have been built in far subsequent periods. Whether the house alluded to of framed wood and plaster is really of the age mentioned is of little importance; but I think it may be safely adduced as a probable type of the mansions of tradesmen of very remote days.
Anderson says, in his History of Commerce, that most of the houses in London were thatched with straw in 1246; and that chimneys were not known to the inhabitants of the wooden houses even in 1300. According to this gentleman, they sat round stoves in the midst of smoke, which I suppose he intends to infer escaped through thedoors and windows. The assertion that chimneys werenot knownat that period is confuted by every old Castle in the kingdom. How the poorest classes fared in this particular, is another consideration.
The Palace at Croydon
The Palace at Croydon
Brick gate, near Bromley
Brick gate, near Bromley
There were numbers of private mansions erected in the reigns of Edward, Mary, Elizabeth, and James I.; most of which were of brick with stone quoins, ornaments, and window frames; for instance, Holland and Camden houses, Wyer-hall, the Middle Temple-hall, &c. &c. The windows of those were almost invariably angular and mullioned, and the ornaments resembled the Grecian rather than any other style. The reign of Charles I. was too unfavourable for general safety to admit the erection of many houses; but Inigo Jones appears to have improved the British imitation of the Grecian style almost to perfection. This architect, by elevating his cielings and altering the shape of windows, removed that darkness and gloom which belonged to the preceding æra.
Sir Christopher Wren completed the work commenced by Jones, and established the present favourite fashion of building; the gradations of which from splendour to extreme plainness are faithfully delineated in the prints which accompany this Volume. The examiner of those will find that our nobility and other rich persons can accommodate themselves to a house calculated fora man worth less than 200l.per annum, or occupy others of five times the dimensions.
We will now return to the more humble classes, and begin with some of the instances spared us by the fire of 1666. To describe those would be useless; prints are superior to the best description: the reader will have the goodness to consult them, and he will find old streets with theprojectinghouses, and single old houses, and one or two sketches from the country to shew the Citizens' place of retirement[366:A].
Sir William Davenant drew a ludicrous yet true picture of antient London, which follows, and may be perused with double interest after a survey of the above old streets and houses, and their improved successors.
The S. E. corner of Guildhall
The S. E. corner of Guildhall
In Goswell street Antient inconvenience contrasted with modern convenience
In Goswell street Antient inconvenience contrasted with modern convenience
The old Magazine Hyde Park
The old Magazine Hyde Park
The entrance of great Portland-street
The entrance of great Portland-street
Part of the Priory of the Holy Trinity Aldgate
Part of the Priory of the Holy Trinity Aldgate
West end of Upper Grosvenor-street
West end of Upper Grosvenor-street
Meux's Brewhouse built about 1796
Meux's Brewhouse built about 1796
Devonshire House
Devonshire House
The west end of Upper Brook street
The west end of Upper Brook street
View in Privy garden
View in Privy garden
In Hanover Square
In Hanover Square
Mansion at Twickenham
Mansion at Twickenham
The East side of Fitzroy Square
The East side of Fitzroy Square
The late Lord Barrymores house Piccadilly
The late Lord Barrymores house Piccadilly
Langley House
Langley House
The west side of Cavendish square
The west side of Cavendish square
The south side of Fitzroy Square
The south side of Fitzroy Square
Entrance to Hyde Park from Park Lane
Entrance to Hyde Park from Park Lane
The Duke of Manchester's
The Duke of Manchester's
The Minced Pie house
The Minced Pie house
"You of this noble City are yet to become more noble by your candour to the plea between me aBourgeoisof Paris, and my opponent of London; being concerned in honour to lend your attention as favourably to a stranger as to your native orator, since it is the greatest sign of narrow education to permit the borders of rivers, orstrands of seas, to separate the general consanguinity of Mankind, though the unquiet nature of Man (still hoping to shake off distant power), and the incapacity of any one to sway universal empire, hath made them the bounds to divide government. But already I think it necessary to cease persuading you, who will ever deserve to be my judges; and, therefore, mean to apply myself in admonishing him who is pleased to be awhile my adversary.
"My most opinionated antagonist (for a Londoner's opinion of himself is no less noted than his opinion of his Beef before the Veal of Italy), you should know that the merit of Cities consists not in their fair and fruitful situation, but in the manners of the Inhabitants; for, where the situation excels, it but upbraids their minds if they be not proportionable to it. And, because we should more except against the constancy of minds than their mutability, when they incline to error, I will first take a survey of yours in the long-continued deformity of theshapeof your City, which is of your buildings.
"Sure your ancestors contrived your narrow streets in the days of wheel-barrows, before those greater enginesCartswere invented. Is your climate sohot, that as you walk you need umbrellas of tiles to intercept the Sun? Or, are your shambles so empty, that you are afraid to take in fresh air, lest it should sharpen yourstomachs? Oh, thegoodlyLandscape ofOld Fish-street! which, had it not had the ill-luck to be crooked, was narrow enough to have been your founder's perspective; and where the garrets (perhaps not for want of architecture, but, throughabundance of amity) are so made, that opposite neighbours may shake hands without stirring from home. Is unanimity of inhabitants in wise Cities better expressed, than by their coherence and uniformity of building, where streets begin, continue, and end in a like stature and shape? But yours (as if they were raised in a general insurrection,where every man hath a several design) differ in all things that can make distinction. Here stands one that aims to be aPalace, and, next it, another that professes to be aHovel. Here a Giant, there a Dwarf; here slender, there broad; and all most admirably different in their faces, as well as in their height and bulk. I was about to defy any Londoner, who dares pretend there is so much ingenious correspondence in this City, as that he can shew me one house like another. Yet your old houses seem to be reverend and formal, being compared to the fantastical works of the moderns; which have more ovals, niches, and angles, than are in your custards, and are enclosed with pasteboard walls, like those of malicious Turks, who, because themselves are not immortal, and cannot ever dwell where they build, therefore will not be atthe charge to provide such lastingness as may entertain their children out of the rain; so slight and so prettily gaudy, that if they could move, they would pass for pageants. It is your custom, where men vary often the mode of their habits, to term the nation fantastical; but, where streets continually change fashion, you should make haste to chain up the City; for it is certainly mad.
"You would think me a malicious traveller, if I should still gaze on your mis-shapen Streets, and take no notice of the beauty of your River; therefore I will pass the importunate noise of your Watermen (who snatch at fares as if they were to catch prisoners, plying the gentry so uncivilly, as if they had never rowed any other passengers but Bear-wards), and now step into one of your pease-cod Boats, whose tilts are not so sumptuous as the roofs of Gondalo's, nor, when you are within, are you at the ease ofChaise-a-bras. The community and trade of your River belongs to yourselves; but give a Stranger leave to share in the pleasure of it; which will hardly be in the prospect or freedom of air, unless prospect consisting of variety be made with here a Palace, there a wood-yard, here a garden, there a brew-house. Here dwells a Lord, there a Dyer, and between bothDuomo Commune. If freedom of air be inferred in the liberty of the subject, where every private man hath authority, for his ownprofit, to smoke up a Magistrate; then the air of your Thames is open enough, because it is equally free. I will forbear to visit your courtly neighbours at Wapping; not that it will make me giddy to shoot your Bridge, but that I am loth to disturb thecivil silenceof Billingsgate, which is so great as if the Mariners were always landing to storm the Harbour; therefore, for brevity's sake, I will put to shore again, though I should be constrained, even without my Goloshoes, to land at Puddle-dock.
"I am now returned to visit your Houses, where the roofs (cielings) are so low, that I presume your ancestors were very mannerly, and stood bare to their wives (for I cannot discern how they could wear their high-crowned hats). Yet will I enter; and therefore oblige you much, when you know my aversion to the odour of a certain weed (Tobacco) that governs amongst your coarser acquaintance, as much as Lavender amongst your linen, to which, in my apprehension, your Sea-coal smoke seems a very Portugal perfume. I should here hasten to a period, for fear of suffocation, if I thought you so ungracious to use it in public assemblies; and yet I see it grow so much in fashion, that methinks your children begin to play with broken pipes, instead of corals, to make way for their teeth. You will find my visit short; I cannot stay to eat with you, because your bread is too heavy, andyou disdain the slight sustenance of herbs: your drink is too thick, and yet you are seldom over-curious in washing your glasses. Nor will I lodge with you, because your beds seem, to our alcoves, no bigger than coffins; and your curtains so short, as they will hardly serve to inclose your Carriers in Summer; and may be held, if Taffata, to have lined your Grandsires shirts. But though your houses are thin, yet your kitchens are well lined with beef; and the plentiful exercise of your chimneys makes up that canopy of smoke which covers your City; whilst we on the Continent are well contented with a clear sky, entertain flesh as a regale; and we, your poor French frogs, are fain to sing to sallad. You boast that your servants feed better than masters at Paris; and we are satisfied when ours are better taught than fed. You allow yours idleness and high nourishment, to raise their mettle; which is, to make them rude for the honour of Old-England; we inure ours to labour and temperance, that we may allay them; which is to make them civil for the quiet of France. Yours drink malt, and the strong broth of malt, which makes them bold, hot, and adventurous to be soon in command: ours are cooled with weak water, which doth quench their arrogance, and makes them fit to obey long. We plant the Vineyard, and you drink the Wine; by which you beget good spirits, and we get good money.You keep open houses for all that bring you in mirth, till your estate run out of doors, and find new landlords: we shut our gate to all but such whose conversation brings in profit; and so, by the help of what you call ill-nature and parsimony, have the good luck to keep our inheritance for our issue.
"Before I leave you in your Houses (where your estates are managed by your servants, and your persons educated by your Wives), I will take a short survey of your Children: to whom you are so terrible, that you seem to make use of authority whilst they are young, as if you knew it would not continue till their manhood: you begin with them in such rough discipline, as if they were born mad, and you meant to fright them into their wits again before they had any to lose. When they increase in years, you make them strangers; keeping them at such distance, out of jealousy they should presume to be your companions, that, when they reach manhood, they use you as if they were none of your acquaintance. If you take pains to teach them any thing, it is only what they should not learn, bashfulness; which you interpret to be their respect to you, but it rather shews they are in trouble, and afraid of you; and not only of you, but all that are older than themselves; as if youth were a crime, or as if you had a greater quarrel to Nature than to the Devil. You seem to teachthem to be ashamed of their persons, even when you are willing to excuse their faults. This education you give them at home; but though you have frequently the pride to disdain the behaviour of other nations, yet you have sometimes the discretion to send your sons abroad to learn it. To Paris they come, the school of Europe; where is taught the approaches and demeanours towards power; where they may learn honour, which is the generous honesty, which is the civil boldness of courts. But there they arrive not to converse with us, but themselves; to see the gates of the Court, not to enter and frequent it; or to take a hasty survey of greatness as far as envy, but not to study it as far as imitation; at last return home, despising those necessary virtues which they took not pains to acquire; and are only ill-altered in their dress and mind, by making that a deformity in seeming over-careful and forced, which we make graceful in being negligent and easy. I have now left your Houses, and am passing through your Streets; but not in a Coach, for they are uneasily hung, and so narrow that I took them for a Sedan upon wheels: nor is it safe for a stranger to use them, till the quarrel be decided, whether six of your nobles, sitting together, shall stop, and give place to as many barrels of beer. Your City is the only Metropolis of Europe where there is a wonderful dignity belonging to Carts. Master Londoner,be not so hot against Coaches: take advice from one who eats much sorrel in his broth. Can you be too civil to such gentry as bravely scorn to be provident?—who, when they have no business here to employ them, nor public pleasures to divert them, yet even then kindly invent occasions to bring them hither, that at your own rates they may change their land for our wares, and have purposely avoided the coarse study of arithmetick, lest they should be able to affront you with examining your accompts.
"I wonder at your riches, when I see you drink in a morning; but more at your confidence, when I see gray-beards come out of a tavern, and stay at the door to make the last debate of their business; and I am yet more amazed at your health, when I taste your wine; but most of all at your politicks, in permitting such public poisoning, under the style of free mystery, to encourage trade and diligence.
"I would now make a safe retreat, but that methinks I am stopped by one of your heroic games, calledFoot-ball; which I conceive (under your favour) not very conveniently civil in the streets, especially in such irregular and narrow roads asCrooked-lane. Yet it argues your courage much like your military pastime of Throwing at Cocks. But your mettle would be more magnified (since you have long allowed those valiant exercises in the street) to draw yourArchers from Finsbury, and, during high market, let them shoot at butts in Cheapside. I have now no more to say but what refers to a few private notes, which I shall give you in a whisper when we meet in Moorfields; from whence (because the place was for public pleasure, and to shew the magnificence of your City) I shall desire you to banish the laundresses and bleachers, whose acres of old linen make a show like the fields of Carthagena, when the five months' shifts of the whole fleet are washed and spread."
The following letter from the celebrated Erasmus to Dr. Francis, Physician to Cardinal Wolsey, will afford a disgusting view of the interior of common dwellings in the reign of Henry VIII.:
"I often wonder, and not without concern, whence it comes to pass, that England for so many years hath been continually afflicted with pestilence; and above all with the sweating-sickness, which seems in a manner peculiar to that country. We read of a City which was delivered from a plague of long continuance, by altering the buildings according to the advice of a certain philosopher. I am much mistaken, if England, by the same method, might not find a cure. First of all, they are totally regardless concerning the aspect of their doors and windows to the East, North, &c. Then they build their chambers so that they admit not a thorough air, which yet, in Galen's opinion, is very necessary. They glaze agreat part of the sides with small panes, designed to admit the light and exclude the wind; but these windows are full of chinks, through which enters a percolated air, which, stagnating in the room, is more noxious than the wind.
"As to the floors,they are usually made of clay, covered with rushesthat grew in fens, which are so slightly removed now and then, that the lower part remainssometimes for twenty years together, and in it a collection of spittle, vomit, urine of dogs and men, beer, scraps of fish, and other filthiness not to be named. Hence, upon change of weather, a vapour is exhaled, very pernicious, in my opinion, to the human body. Add to this, that England is not only surrounded with the sea, but in many parts is fenny, and intersected with streams of a brackish water; and that salt fish is the common and the favourite food of the poor. I am persuaded that the Island would be far more healthy, if the use of these rushes were quite laid aside, and the chambers so built as to let in the air on two or three sides, with such glass windows as might be either thrown quite open, or kept quite shut, without small crannies to let in the wind. For, as it is useful sometimes to admit a free air, so is it sometimes to exclude it. The common people laugh at a man who complains that he is affected by changeable and cloudy weather; but, for my part, for these thirty years past, if I ever enteredinto a room which had been uninhabited for some months, immediately I grew feverish. It would also be of great benefit, if the lower people could be persuaded to eat less of their salt fish; and if public officers were appointed to see that the streets were kept free from mud and ——, and that not only in the City, but in the Suburbs. You will smile, perhaps, and think that my time lies upon my hands, since I employ it in such speculations; but I have a great affection for a country which received me so hospitably for a considerable time, and I shall be glad to end the remainder of my days in it if it be possible. Though I know you to be better skilled in these things than I pretend to be, yet I could not forbear from giving you my thoughts, that, if we are both of a mind, you may propose the project to men in authority; since even Princes have not thought such regulations to be beneath their inspection."
The tyrant who then reigned could not plead ignorance of the causes which almost depopulated London. A physician cannot offend when he talks of health to his patron. Wolsey must have heard the above truths repeated by Francis, and thenameof Erasmus must have enforced his arguments: the haughty Cardinal accomplished far more unworthy objects with his master than a consideration of the health of his people would have been; therefore each were criminal in notdoing that for the benefit of the publick which a nod from absolute power could effect. A despicable disregard of decency evidently prevailed in the royal breasts of the Monarchs who reigned between the Conquest and the great Fire; the plague, the leprosy, and the sweating-sickness, reigned with them; filth in the dark confined streets, and filth in every house, made infection eternal; and yet not one step appears to have been taken in obedience to instinct—Instinct makes a man inimical to dirt.
Heaven be praised, old Londonwas burnt. Good reader, turn to the views, in order to see what it has been; observe those hovels convulsed; imagine the chambers within them, and wonder why the plague, the leprosy, and the sweating-sickness, raged. Turn then to the prints illustrative of our present dwellings, and be happy.
The misery of 1665 must have operated on the minds of the Legislature and the Citizens, when they rebuilt and inhabited their houses. The former enacted many salutary clauses for the preservation of health, and would have done more, had not the publick rejected that which was for their benefit; those who preferred high habitations and narrow dark streets had them. It is only to be lamented, that we are compelled to suffer for their folly. These errors are now frequently partially removed by the exertion ofthe Corporation of London; but a complete reformation is impossible.
It is a fallacy to say that the New River now exclusivelypreventsinfectious disorders by the distribution of its water through the City, as it is well known to have been introduced to the houses very many years before 1665. It is to the improved dwellings composed of brick, the wainscot or papered walls, the high cielings, the boarded floors, and large windows, and cleanliness, that we are indebted for the general preservation of health since 1666. From that auspicious year the very existence of the natives of London improved; their bodies moved in a large space of pure air; and, finding every thing clean and new around them, they determined to keep them so. Previously-unknown luxuries and improvements in furniture were suggested; and a man of moderate fortune saw his house vie with, nay superior to, the old palaces of his governors. When he paced his streets, he felt the genial Western breeze pass him, rich with the perfumes of the country, instead of the stench described by Erasmus; and looking upward, he beheld the beautiful blue of the air, variegated with fleecy clouds, in place of projecting black beams and plaster, obscured by vapour and smoke. But there were other blessings, which he thought not of, that are attained by his successors; and those I shall proceed to describe chronologically, afterintroducing the assertions of M. de Grosley on the state of London with respect to Cleanlinesscirca1750. That gentleman observes, in his Tour to London, that "the plate, hearth-stones (generally marble), moveables, apartments, doors, stairs, the very street-doors, their locks, and the large brass knockers (almost exclusively iron at present), are every day washed, scowered, or rubbed. Even in lodging-houses, the middle of the stairs is often covered with carpeting, to prevent them from being soiled. All the apartments in the house have mats or carpets; and the use of them has been adopted some years since by the French."
The streets of London must have been dangerously dark during the winter nights before it was burnt: lanterns with candles were very sparingly scattered, nor was light much better distributed even in the new streets previous to the last century.
Globular lamps were introduced by Michael Cole, who obtained a patent July 1708; a copy of the docquet for which follows: "A grant unto Michael Cole, gent. of the sole use and benefit in England and Ireland of his invention of anew kind of Light, composed of one entire glass of a globular shape, with a lamp, which will give a clearer and more certain light from all parts thereof, without any dark shadows or what else may be confounding or troublesome to the sight,than any other Lamps that have hitherto been in use: To hold to the said Michael Cole, his executors, administrators, and assigns, during the term of fourteen years; with a proviso, that the said invention shall not before the determination of the term of twenty-one years (which commenced June 24, 1694) be used within the City of London, or the liberties thereof, to the prejudice of the proprietors of the public glass lights calledConvex lights, now usedin the said City and liberties thereof; and such other provisos, prohibitions, and clauses are inserted, as were directed by warrant under her Majesty's Royal sign manual. Subscribed by Mr. Solicitor General.
"John Woodeson,
Dep. to SirGeorge Piers,Bart."
Cole first exhibited his Globe Lamp at the door of the St. James's Coffee-house in 1709, and attended there to answer queries relating to it. He afterwards offered to dispose of his patent for the benefit of this Kingdom, as he resided in Ireland.
The ensuing report was made September 17, 1736, by Alderman Alsop and Godschall, and eight Common Council-men, appointed a Committee to consider in what manner the Act of Parliament "for the better enlightening the streets of London" might be put in execution.
"There were 1287 houses under the rent of 10l.per annum; 4741 of 10l.and under 20l.;3045 of 20l.and under 30l.; 1849 of 30l.and under 40l.; and 3092 of 40l.and upwards. In all 14,014 houses, then inhabited and chargeable; which were about 400 less than the Committee imagined. The number of lamps required was 4200, exclusive of those wanted for public buildings and void places, fixed at twenty-five yards distance on each side of the way in the high streets, and at thirty-five in lesser streets, lanes, &c. The several Wards of the City agreed for the lighting them at an average of 41s.per annum perlamp, at which rate the expence of the 4200 amounted to 8610l.The fixing of those on posts and irons, averaged at 14s.6d.each, 3045l.; total expence 5628l.The rates to supply which sum were fixed as follows: Houses under 10l.—3s.6d.per annum; under 20l.—7s.6d.; under 30l.—8s.; under 40l.—9s.6d.; upwards of 40l.—12s."
The above particulars will be sufficient to explain the manner in which London and Westminster is now lighted. The only variety that has since occurred is, the converting of the shape of the lamps from a globular form to that of a bell, and affixing them to the iron railing of the area and houses. Several attempts to introduce strong reflectors have failed, as it has been uniformly found that they injure and confuse the sight.
The shop-keepers of London are of infinite service to the rest of the inhabitants by their liberal use of the Patent Lamp, to shew their commodities during the long evenings of winter. The parish lamps glimmer above them, and are hardly distinguishable before ten o'clock.
The first essential improvement of London, after the re-building of the City, was the filling of Fleet-ditch, and forming the streets where the market is situated; and the next, the continuation of the plan to Blackfriars-bridge. The latter was suggested by the success of Westminster-bridge; and the removal of the houses and widening of the arches of London-bridge proceeded from perceiving the neat appearance and superior accommodations of the new ones.
The following is a list of "Openings to be made in the City of London, pursuant to an Act of Parliament" passed in the Session of 1760.
"In Aldersgate Ward. A passage twenty feet wide, from the East side of Aldersgate-street (opposite to Little Britain) to the West of Noble-street, opposite to Oat-lane; and through Wood-street, opposite to Love-lane.In Aldgate Ward. A passage fifty feet wide, from the Mason's shop facing Crutched-friars, in a direct line to the Minories.A passage, twenty-five feet wide, through Northumberland-alley, into Crutched-friars.In Bishopsgate Ward. A passage, twenty-five feet wide, through Angel-court, in Bishopsgate-street, into Little St. Helen's.A passage, twenty feet wide, from Broad-street, through Union-court, into Bishopsgate-street.In Coleman-street Ward. A passage, fifty feet wide, from Tokenhouse-yard to London-wall.In Farringdon Ward Within. A passage through Cock-alley, on Ludgate-hill, opposite to the Old Bailey, forty feet wide, into Blackfriars.A passage, twenty-five feet wide, from Butcher-hall-lane, into Little-Britain.In Farringdon Ward Without. A passage, thirty feet wide, in the middle of Snow-hill, to the Fleet-market.The following passages are to be improved and enlarged.In Aldgate Ward. The East side of Billiter-lane, to enlarge the passage thirty feet.The East end of Leadenhall-street, to be thirty-five feet wide.Part of the houses on the East side of Poor Jewry-lane, beginning at the North side of the Horse and Trumpet, and extending to Gould-square, to range in a line with that end of thelane next to Aldgate; the passage to be made thirty-five feet wide.In Broad-street Ward. The House to be pulled down at the West end of the buildings between Cornhill and Threadneedle-street, opposite to the South end of Princes-street, and the ground laid into the street.Houses to be pulled down on the South side of Threadneedle-street, extending from the house before-mentioned Eastward, till that part of the street opposite to the Bank gates; and the passage there enlarged to thirty-five feet in width.Coleman-street Ward. One house on the N. E. corner of the Old Jewry, and another house at the S. W. corner of Coleman-street, and the ground laid into the street.Cordwainers' Ward. The house at the N. E. corner of Trinity-lane, near the Dog Tavern, and the ground laid into the street.In Cornhill Ward. The house at the West end of the buildings between Cornhill and Lombard-street, and the ground laid into the street.In Cripplegate Ward Within. The houses which project forwards at the West end of Silver-street, from the end of Monkwell-street, quite through into Aldersgate-street, to make a street forty feet wide.The house at the corner of Aldermanbury, facing Milk-street, and the ground laid into the street.In Farringdon Ward Within. The Tin-shop and the Trunk-maker's house, at the S. W. corner of Cheapside, leading into St. Paul's Church-yard, and the ground laid into the street.Such part of the houses in Creed-lane as are necessary to widen the passage to thirty feet.In Farringdon Ward Without. All the houses in Middle-row between the paved alley, adjoining to St. Sepulchre's church and Giltspur-street, from the North end quite through to the South end, facing Hart-street, and the ground laid into the street.All the houses in Middle-row, between the Great and Little Old Bailey, from the North end facing Hart-street, to the Baptist's Head at the South end, facing the Great Old Bailey, and the ground laid into the street.The shops under St. Dunstan's church in Fleet-street, and the ground laid into the street.In Langbourn Ward. Such part of the houses at the end of Mark-lane, next to Fenchurch-street, as will make the passage there thirty feet wide.Such part of the houses at the East end of Lombard-street, as will make the passage there thirty feet wide.In Portsoken Ward. The house at the N. E. corner of Houndsditch, adjoining to the church-yard, and the ground laid into the street.In Tower Ward. Such part of the houses on St. Dunstan's-hill, adjoining to the George Alehouse, and opposite to the Chain, and such part of the warehouses opposite to the end of St. Dunstan's Church, as will make the passage thirty feet wide.The house on the N. W. corner of Great Tower-street, and also the house on the S. E. corner of Little Tower-street, occupied by Messrs. Julon and Lidner, to make a convenient passage.The house in Mark-lane which adjoins to All-hallows Staining, and projects twelve feet before the other houses, to make it range in a line with the other houses, and enlarge the passage.In Vintry Ward. The houses on the North side of Thames-street which reach from Elbow-lane to College-hill, and also those on the South side of the said street which reach from Vintner's-hall to Bull-wharf-lane, in order to make the street forty feet wide.The house at the corner of Tower-royal, facing College-hill, to be pulled down, and the ground laid into the street.In Walbrook Ward. The house at the N. E. corner of Bucklersbury, which projects before the other buildings.In Bishopsgate Ward. The two houses between New Broad-street and New Broad-street-buildings."
"In Aldersgate Ward. A passage twenty feet wide, from the East side of Aldersgate-street (opposite to Little Britain) to the West of Noble-street, opposite to Oat-lane; and through Wood-street, opposite to Love-lane.
In Aldgate Ward. A passage fifty feet wide, from the Mason's shop facing Crutched-friars, in a direct line to the Minories.
A passage, twenty-five feet wide, through Northumberland-alley, into Crutched-friars.
In Bishopsgate Ward. A passage, twenty-five feet wide, through Angel-court, in Bishopsgate-street, into Little St. Helen's.
A passage, twenty feet wide, from Broad-street, through Union-court, into Bishopsgate-street.
In Coleman-street Ward. A passage, fifty feet wide, from Tokenhouse-yard to London-wall.
In Farringdon Ward Within. A passage through Cock-alley, on Ludgate-hill, opposite to the Old Bailey, forty feet wide, into Blackfriars.
A passage, twenty-five feet wide, from Butcher-hall-lane, into Little-Britain.
In Farringdon Ward Without. A passage, thirty feet wide, in the middle of Snow-hill, to the Fleet-market.
The following passages are to be improved and enlarged.
In Aldgate Ward. The East side of Billiter-lane, to enlarge the passage thirty feet.
The East end of Leadenhall-street, to be thirty-five feet wide.
Part of the houses on the East side of Poor Jewry-lane, beginning at the North side of the Horse and Trumpet, and extending to Gould-square, to range in a line with that end of thelane next to Aldgate; the passage to be made thirty-five feet wide.
In Broad-street Ward. The House to be pulled down at the West end of the buildings between Cornhill and Threadneedle-street, opposite to the South end of Princes-street, and the ground laid into the street.
Houses to be pulled down on the South side of Threadneedle-street, extending from the house before-mentioned Eastward, till that part of the street opposite to the Bank gates; and the passage there enlarged to thirty-five feet in width.
Coleman-street Ward. One house on the N. E. corner of the Old Jewry, and another house at the S. W. corner of Coleman-street, and the ground laid into the street.
Cordwainers' Ward. The house at the N. E. corner of Trinity-lane, near the Dog Tavern, and the ground laid into the street.
In Cornhill Ward. The house at the West end of the buildings between Cornhill and Lombard-street, and the ground laid into the street.
In Cripplegate Ward Within. The houses which project forwards at the West end of Silver-street, from the end of Monkwell-street, quite through into Aldersgate-street, to make a street forty feet wide.
The house at the corner of Aldermanbury, facing Milk-street, and the ground laid into the street.
In Farringdon Ward Within. The Tin-shop and the Trunk-maker's house, at the S. W. corner of Cheapside, leading into St. Paul's Church-yard, and the ground laid into the street.
Such part of the houses in Creed-lane as are necessary to widen the passage to thirty feet.
In Farringdon Ward Without. All the houses in Middle-row between the paved alley, adjoining to St. Sepulchre's church and Giltspur-street, from the North end quite through to the South end, facing Hart-street, and the ground laid into the street.
All the houses in Middle-row, between the Great and Little Old Bailey, from the North end facing Hart-street, to the Baptist's Head at the South end, facing the Great Old Bailey, and the ground laid into the street.
The shops under St. Dunstan's church in Fleet-street, and the ground laid into the street.
In Langbourn Ward. Such part of the houses at the end of Mark-lane, next to Fenchurch-street, as will make the passage there thirty feet wide.
Such part of the houses at the East end of Lombard-street, as will make the passage there thirty feet wide.
In Portsoken Ward. The house at the N. E. corner of Houndsditch, adjoining to the church-yard, and the ground laid into the street.
In Tower Ward. Such part of the houses on St. Dunstan's-hill, adjoining to the George Alehouse, and opposite to the Chain, and such part of the warehouses opposite to the end of St. Dunstan's Church, as will make the passage thirty feet wide.
The house on the N. W. corner of Great Tower-street, and also the house on the S. E. corner of Little Tower-street, occupied by Messrs. Julon and Lidner, to make a convenient passage.
The house in Mark-lane which adjoins to All-hallows Staining, and projects twelve feet before the other houses, to make it range in a line with the other houses, and enlarge the passage.
In Vintry Ward. The houses on the North side of Thames-street which reach from Elbow-lane to College-hill, and also those on the South side of the said street which reach from Vintner's-hall to Bull-wharf-lane, in order to make the street forty feet wide.
The house at the corner of Tower-royal, facing College-hill, to be pulled down, and the ground laid into the street.
In Walbrook Ward. The house at the N. E. corner of Bucklersbury, which projects before the other buildings.
In Bishopsgate Ward. The two houses between New Broad-street and New Broad-street-buildings."
The removal of all the City Gates promoted a better circulation of air; and London Wall gave place near Moorgate to a fine new street.
It has ever been the practice of the London builders to erect houses at the least possible expence, because their tenures are almost exclusively leasehold. Hence it is that the Editors of the Newspapers of the last century were compelled from time to time to notice the horrid effects produced by the fall of those frail buildings. I am fully convinced, that not less than one hundred lives have been lost in this way between 1700 and 1807; and that at least three times as many persons were maimed. The publick justly condemned the supineness of their officials in not preventing occurrences of this description; and the compilers of the London Chronicle say in October 1760, "In one of the morning papers is a complaint of the present method of letting leases of the City Lands, and other estates of public bodies. It is not sufficient to build Bridges; it is not enough to widen and improve Streets and Passages: no, we should examine farther. Consider what the Houses are: they are all superannuated; the City is worn out; the major part of the houses have stood much longer than they should,many years longer than they were built for; and, instead of being rebuilt as the leases expire, or any thing done to aggrandise and render the Cityconspicuous, equal to the other improvements, they are advertised again on repairing leases, and are so shamefully propped up from time to time that the City must come to decay: nay, it will be even hazardous to walk the streets."
Though the latter assertion rather exceeds the truth, it will be recollected that Houghton-street Clare-market, Wapping, the neighbourhood of Bishopsgate-street, and Billingsgate, have very recently proved that fatal consequences attend the parsimony of those landlords who repair when they should rebuild; and I think I may safely declare that there are at this moment at least 3000 houses in a dangerous state of ruin within London and Westminster, which may hereafter make their owners repent the indulgence of their avarice. He that observes the present miserable representatives of bricks anddirtmortar constantly ascending in tottering piles around him, cannot wonder that houses sometimes fall with their own weight ere they are finished; and he must anticipate future consequences. The Legislature wisely enacted regulations to prevent the communication of accidental fires; but more remains to be done—let them ordain that bricks and mortar should hereafter be of a certain standard, under a heavy fine and imprisonment; and that surveyors should be appointed to order the demolition of new houses built in opposition to the clauses of the Act.
The reader whoadmiresadulteration may findenough of it thus noticed in the London Chronicle, June 2, 1764. This article evinces that I am not the first person who has reprobated the London brick-maker. "We have long complained ofalumbread, of small beer brewed withtreacle and water, and porter withoutmalt or hops. No one is now ignorant, that half of the best rums and brandies are butmalt spirits; and that the quantity of port-wine which is drunk in England, by the help ofAlicantandother mixtures, more than doubly exceeds what is annually imported. And every family at this time is lamenting the unmerciful roguery of forestallers and engrossers, and those who increase the price upon all adulterated commodities, without any feeling for the consumer. But we take not the least notice of a practice that seems more hurtful to the community than any of the above—the present method of making bricks.
"If you go to the remains of London Wall, or examine any old brick buildings, you will find it more difficult to pull it down, than it was for the architect to raise it; but let any person attend to the continual accounts given in the papersof the number of half-built houses that tumble down before they can be finished, and he will tremble for those who are to inhabit the many piles of new buildings that are daily rising in this metropolis. When we consider the practice among some of the brick-makers about the town, we shall not wonderat this consequence, though we must shudder at the evil. The increase of buildings has increased the demand, and consequently the price of bricks. The demand for bricks has raised the price of brick-earth so greatly, that the makers are tempted to mixthe slop of the streets,ashes,scavengers dirt, and every thing that will make the brick-earth or clay go as far as possible. It is said the price of this brick-earth is more than doubled within these two or three years. The Scavenger, unwilling to be behind with the Landholder, has doubled the price of ashes, trebled the price of cinders, and charges a considerable price for the filth, mud, and what they call the slop of the streets. This slop makes near one half of the composition that is to raise the enormous and very numerous buildings which are to unite London with Highgate, Bromley, Rumford, and Brentford, within these five years; unless, what seems very possible, the bricklayers, carpenters, and masons, with all their labourers and workmen, are overwhelmed in the ruins of their own buildings before the plan is finished. The Legislature has provided for our safety against the roguery of the Builders; but, unless the materials of which the bricks are made shall be taken into consideration, London may shortly resemble the City of Lisbon, without the intervention of an Earthquake."
When the Corporation of London had determined in 1766 to remove many of the inconveniences and obstructions then common in the City of London, it appeared in evidence that the Streets were generally badly paved, very dirty, and not sufficiently lighted; and that the Signs prevented a free circulation of the air and view of the Streets, while the Posts contributed to impede the passenger. Nor were the Penthouses less injurious; those, loaded with flower-pots, often occasioned dangerous hurts by the fall of the latter; and the watering of the plants in them contributed, with the projecting spouts, in rainy weather, to sluice the Citizen, who at the same time steered his undulating or zig-zag way through wheelbarrows and bawling owners. Another comfort peculiar to this period was the ambition of Shop-keepers, who encroached upon the footways by bow-windows. When an example was set, the whole fraternity, fired with emulation, thrust each new one beyond his neighbour. Such were the impediments to walking so recently as 1766! The reader may imagine how a Londoner must have felt during a high wind and shower; a thousand signs swinging on rusty hinges above him, threatening ruin to his person at every step, and a thousand spouts pouring cascades at his luckless head.
The extravagant use of Signs had been complained of early in the century, when they weredescribed as very large, very fine with gilding and carving, and very absurd.Goldenperriwigs, saws, axes, razors, trees, lancets, knives, salmon, cheese, blacks' heads with gilt hair, half-moons, sugar-loaves, and Westphalia hams, were repeated without mercy from the Borough to Clerkenwell, and from Whitechapel to the Haymarket; but a person who knew what they were much better than myself thus described them under the signature of A. B. in one of the newspapers of 1764: "In the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV. the inhabitants of the City of Paris were ever complaining how sick the City was, and how fast they died: upon which, Louis consulted the Medical people what could be the cause of it: and they all agreed, that it was owing to the largeness of the Signs, which choaked up the free circulating air, which ever administers to health; upon which an edict was published, that no Sign should be more than 18 inches by 12, and all the iron perhaps may weigh four or five pounds; and I do suppose that some of the Sign-irons in London weigh four or five hundred, and some a great deal more. Soon after this edict was published, it was declared by the inhabitants, that they found a sensible difference in their healths. The general run of their streets are a little wider than Paternoster-row; a few much wider, and a great many not so wide.
"Now, when the wind blows hard upon a very broad Sign, with a great weight of Iron on the front of the house, I often wonder, that the fronts do not fall oftener than they do. In the year 1718, the front of a house, opposite Bride-lane in Fleet-street, fell down, and killed two young ladies, a cobler, and the King's Jeweller. This you may depend upon as a truth; many others were maimed, and a few more were killed, I cannot say how many: this was done by the wind blowing hard against the large Sign and Iron. These gorgeous Signs are to draw in customers; but, if they were all upon a footing, and our signs and callings were wrote as they are in the Strand, would not every body be the better for it, and a great deal of money be saved into the bargain? First, they would save their money; secondly, render the City more healthy; and thirdly, prevent people's brains being knocked out," &c. &c.
The suggestions of this and other good citizens were at length attended to; and the Court of Common Council appointed a Committee, in the same year, to consider of some method by which they might accomplish the removal of Signs and Water-spouts, and cause the former to be affixed to the fronts of houses flat against the wall, and the latter to be so contrived as to discharge their contents without annoying passengers. The gentlemen commissioned for the above purpose weredirected besides to arrange a plan for inscribing the names of streets, lanes, and alleys, on their corners.
Soon after the above appointment, the Newspaper-writers frequently noticed the alteration of Signs; and the inhabitants of Shug-lane appear to have led the way in putting the Act of Parliament in execution, sanctioning the general improvement of London and Westminster. In addition to the names of streets placed on the corners, the Nobility then introduced brass plates or door-plates with their names engraved on them; and the numbering of the houses completed this portion of the great work of amendment.
The streets of London were extremely inconvenient before this period, as the kennels were in the midst, and the stones of the pavements round; nor was there, as at present, a smooth footway for the pedestrian. A meeting of the Commissioners for the re-paving of London was held in June 1766, when Aberdeen granite was adopted, and Charles Whitworth, Esq. contracted for the performance; but the Commissioners for paving the squares, streets, and lanes of Westminster, had issued the following intimation in March 1763:
"Notice is hereby given, that they intend new paving Parliament-street, Charing Cross, Cockspur-street, and Pall Mall; for which purpose the following Proposals are advertised,viz."1st, For furnishing Edinburgh stones, or stones of the like quality, for the carriage-way of the said streets, at the Quarry, according to the dimensions following,viz.of four and five inches thick (and a few of six for the kennels), and not less than nine inches deep, and for delivering the same at the places where they may be most conveniently shipped.2dly, For freight and delivery at such wharf or wharfs, near Westminster-bridge, as the Commissioners shall direct.3dly, For carriage from the said wharf or wharfs to the said streets, or any of them, as the Surveyor shall direct.4thly, For paving of the carriage-way of the said streets with the said stones, supplying the best Thames sand, labourers, and all incidental charges (except only removing the old pavement, and leveling the ground), according to such dimensions as shall be set out by the Surveyor, and under such inspection of the Surveyor as is directed by the Act of Parliament.5thly, For paving the footways of the said streets with the best Purbeck pavement, and a curb of Purbeck or Moor stone twelve inches broad, and seven inches thick, leveling the ground, finding all materials and workmanship, according to such levels and such dimensions as shall be directed and appointed by the Surveyor, and under his inspection, as the said Act directs;as likewise for re-laying such part of the old footways as shall be directed by the Surveyor.6thly, Persons willing to contract may make their Proposals for the whole, or any part, of the said works; and for keeping the same in repair for the term of ten years; the said works being to be completed within one year from the 3d of May next.Note, The number of square yards of the carriage-way is about 20,000; and the quantity of stones to be contracted for will be 7000 tons, to be delivered in London, within the space of one year from the 3d of May 1763 to the 3d of May 1764, according to the following proportions,viz.600 tons in the month of May, 800 tons in each of the months of June, July, August, and September, 500 in October, 400 in each of the months of November, December, and January, and 500 tons in each of the months of February, March, and April.Proposals in writing, sealed up, to be delivered in at Westminster-bridge office, Old Palace-yard, Westminster, on or before Tuesday the 12th of April next.By order of the Commissioners,George Box,Clerk."
"Notice is hereby given, that they intend new paving Parliament-street, Charing Cross, Cockspur-street, and Pall Mall; for which purpose the following Proposals are advertised,viz.
"1st, For furnishing Edinburgh stones, or stones of the like quality, for the carriage-way of the said streets, at the Quarry, according to the dimensions following,viz.of four and five inches thick (and a few of six for the kennels), and not less than nine inches deep, and for delivering the same at the places where they may be most conveniently shipped.
2dly, For freight and delivery at such wharf or wharfs, near Westminster-bridge, as the Commissioners shall direct.
3dly, For carriage from the said wharf or wharfs to the said streets, or any of them, as the Surveyor shall direct.
4thly, For paving of the carriage-way of the said streets with the said stones, supplying the best Thames sand, labourers, and all incidental charges (except only removing the old pavement, and leveling the ground), according to such dimensions as shall be set out by the Surveyor, and under such inspection of the Surveyor as is directed by the Act of Parliament.
5thly, For paving the footways of the said streets with the best Purbeck pavement, and a curb of Purbeck or Moor stone twelve inches broad, and seven inches thick, leveling the ground, finding all materials and workmanship, according to such levels and such dimensions as shall be directed and appointed by the Surveyor, and under his inspection, as the said Act directs;as likewise for re-laying such part of the old footways as shall be directed by the Surveyor.
6thly, Persons willing to contract may make their Proposals for the whole, or any part, of the said works; and for keeping the same in repair for the term of ten years; the said works being to be completed within one year from the 3d of May next.
Note, The number of square yards of the carriage-way is about 20,000; and the quantity of stones to be contracted for will be 7000 tons, to be delivered in London, within the space of one year from the 3d of May 1763 to the 3d of May 1764, according to the following proportions,viz.600 tons in the month of May, 800 tons in each of the months of June, July, August, and September, 500 in October, 400 in each of the months of November, December, and January, and 500 tons in each of the months of February, March, and April.
Proposals in writing, sealed up, to be delivered in at Westminster-bridge office, Old Palace-yard, Westminster, on or before Tuesday the 12th of April next.
By order of the Commissioners,
George Box,Clerk."
As St. James's-street now is, nothing can be more convenient than the gradual declination from Piccadilly to the Palace. That the houses on each side of the way have been almost entirelyrebuilt since the year 1765, will pretty plainly appear from the ensuing lively paper, inserted in the London Chronicle August 15, 1765:
"We have read a great deal in your paper about Liberty, Mr. Printer; give me leave to say a word or two about Property, which, talk as they please, the greatest part of mankind reckon the most valuable of the two. Our sensible forefathers, in framing the Streets of this great City, preferred utility to ornament; and, in St. James's-street, they were very industrious, that the paving of that uneven ground should not prejudice the property of any individual.—Their wiser sons have wished to reverse this practice, and have been full as industrious in conforming the buildings to the Scotch paving. The descent from the upper to the lower end of this street being so very steep, has brought very whimsical distresses upon many of the inhabitants—some of the ground-floors, that were almost level with the street, are now eight, nine, and some ten steps, and those very steep, from the ground; while others, to which you used to ascend by three or four steps, are now as many below the surface. Cellars are now above ground, and some gentlemen are forced to dive into their own parlours. Many laughable accidents too have happened from this new method of turning the world upside-down: some persons, not thinking of the late alterations, attempting to knock at their own door,have frequently tumbled up their new-erected steps, while others, who have been used to ascend to their threshold, have as often, for the same reason, tumbled down; and their fall had been the greater, from their lifting up their legs to ascend as usual. An old gouty friend of mine complains heavily; he has lain, he says, upon the ground-floor for these ten years, and he chose the house he lives in because there was no step to the door; and now he is obliged to mount at least nine, before he can get into his bedchamber, and the entrance into his house is at the one pair of stairs. A neighbour too complains he has lost a good lodger, because he refused to lower the price of his first floor, which the gentleman insisted he ought, as the lodgings are now up two pair of stairs. Many of the street doors are not above five feet high; and the owners, when they enter their houses, seem as if they were going into a dog-kennel rather than their own habitations. To say the truth, no fault can be imputed to the trustees: but many are great sufferers; and this method of making the houses conform to the ornamental paving, is something like the practice of Procrustes, the robber, who made a bed of certain dimensions, and whoever was put into it, had his legs cut shorter if they were too long, or stretched out if they were too short, till the poor wretch was precisely of the length with the bed.
"I am, Sir, yours, &c.
"Anti-Procrustes."
The exertions of our fathers in the general improvement of houses and streets have leftuslittle to do. Pure air, so essential to the preservation of life, now circulates freely through thenewstreets; squares, calculated for ornament, health, and the higher ranks of the community, are judiciously dispersed, and their centres converted into beautiful gardens; the tall houses have a sufficient number of large windows; the areas in front are wide, and handsomely railed with cast iron; lamps on scrollwork are suspended at due distances from each other; and admirable level smooth footways of great breadth protect the passenger from the carts and carriages, separated from him by a curb stone raised several inches above spacious kennels, through which the water from showers passes and descends into large drains, communicating with vast sewers many feet below the level of the street.
There are salutary laws providing for the performance of those acts of cleanliness which individuals might neglect or omit. The inmates of every house will of course cleanse the steps leading to it; but they will notuniversallyremove the soil from their pavements. The law commands them to do soeverymorning under a penalty of 5s.; and yet there are very few who walk the narrow streets of London in winter can forget the retrograde motion of their feet on the deep mud when the pavements are—greasy. Sir William Curtis, when Lord Mayor, recently determined to enforce the law—and very honourablyfined himself.
Scavengers are appointed to sweep the carriage-ways, and carry off the dirt; and yet there are places to be found where brooms have not always done their duty. The publick are very properly forbid to throw any kind of dust into the streets, and are ordered to reserve it for the Dustman, who is enjoined to call for it frequently; and yet I was once informed by a housekeeper that their Parish Dustman had not honoured them with a visitfor six long weeks. The renters of single rooms, in first, second, and third floors, in mean streets, feel themselvesaboverestraint. Those people empty dirty water mixed with their offals into the gutters, the stench of which is appalling; but I forget, they certainly do not offend against the law—it isdust, notwater dirtied, or mixed with dust and vegetables, which they are forbidden to deposit in the streets.
Let me not neglect in this survey the laudable efforts of the Sweepers male and female, who, stationed at corners and crossings, faithfully remove every appearance of soil from the stones for the casual receipt of half-pence. They are undoubtedly an useful body, and they have my commendations accordingly.
Beer-houses, or, as they are generally termed, Public Houses, render our streets extremely unpleasant in summer; but delicacy forbids my adding more on the subject. Would that equaldelicacy in the keepers wouldturn their customers backwards!
So much for the Streets. Repairing-leases contribute greatly to the handsome appearance of the Houses; every thing is in order; and the clause for painting the fronts triennally keeps the woodwork as clean and bright as our fogs and the coal smoke will permit. The shop-keeper prides himself on the neatness of his shop-front; his little portico, and the pilasters and cornices, are imitations of Lydian, serpentine, porphyry, and verde antique marbles; and those who have the good fortune to serve any branch of the Royal Family immediately place large sculptures of their several arms and supporters over their doors, and their own names and business in golden characters. The great windows of large panes exhibit the richest manufactures, and the doors of the Linen drapers are closed by draperies of new muslins and calicoes. Some wags pretend indeed that the tradesman has a double motive in this proceeding—the darkening of his premises to prevent keen eyes from discovering coarse threads, and embellishing his shop.
The Goldsmiths and Jewellers, and some Pawnbrokers, indulge the publick with the view of diamonds, pearls, rubies, emeralds, gold, and silver, in most fascinating quantities; but the Watch-makers and Glassmen eclipse all competitorsin the display of fanciful clocks set in alabastor, ormolu, gold and silver, and the richest cut glass lighted by patent lamps at night. The Bookseller exposes copies of the most expensive works in his windows, and the Printsellers those of the best artists. The Undertaker covers his panes with escutcheons, crowns, coronets, and mitres of gold; and contrives to introduce the lid of a little velvet coffin, which is intended to lead the eye to full-sized real ones preparing for the dead.
The Lottery-office-keeper attracts a crowd by numbers of tickets and shares disposed for sale, and always places a papermementoat the elbow, of "No. &c. &c. sold at this office in the last lottery, drawn a prize of 30,000l." Hence the Lucky Office andOnlyLucky Office[403:A].
The retailer of Quack Medicines covers every pane of his shop-windows with the bills of different compounders of nostrums, and the angles between the paper and the sashes with transparent vivid colours; and the Proprietors of Newspapers seize upon every battle or capture as fair opportunities for pasting large pieces of paper together, which they inscribe "Sixth edition," &c. &c. and suspend from the top to the bottom of theircasements; while their myrmidons the Newsmen reiterate the "Sixth edition" with distended lungs in the short intervals between the—I had almost said—infernal blasts of their tin trumpets. Let the purchaser, however, beware the Newsman doth not give him a paper or gazette—three weeks old—in the hurry of the moment!
Such are the methods adopted by the London Tradesmen to attract attention, and such the appearance of the lower part of their Houses: indeed, Commodities are now generally used in place of the antient Signs. One of theirabsurditiesdeserves reprehension: when a man has a front door between two windows, or a door on the right side of a window, he will have his name over the door, and his business on the friezes of the windows; for instance,
instead of "Brown, goldsmith and jeweller." The nonsense produced in this way is sometimes incredibly ludicrous. I once observed the words "Preston, Nightman, and Rubbish carted," so placed that they conveyed an idea of a partnership "Preston andRubbish."
View in Hyde Park
View in Hyde Park
View in Park-lane
View in Park-lane
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
Part of Westminster bridge
Part of Westminster bridge
Westminster from Milbank
Westminster from Milbank
The noble fronts of the several Banking-houses and Insurance offices, many of the latter withfine emblematic statues over the doors, are great ornaments to the streets of London.
The interior architecture of our dwellings is generally very convenient; but I could wish that the kitchens might henceforward be erected behind the house, that no human being should be immersed in damp, and blinded with darkness, as our servants now are, seven or eight feet below the surface of the street.
It will be perceived that every thing under this article has now been noticed which is independent of the information already given in "Londinium Redivivum." I shall, therefore, conclude it with referring the reader to the annexed Prints, where he will find sketches of various parts of London which I have considered as the most picturesque, the whole contributing to illustrate thegeneral characterof the Metropolis.