CONTENTS.CHAPTER I.PAGE1830.Illness of George IV. — His death — Sale of his clothes, etc. — The new King — His character1CHAPTER II.1830.Proclamation of William IV. — The Beer Act — The Queen and gas — Burial of George IV. — The King and the Duke of Cumberland — The King as a soldier — He meddles with the uniforms of the army8CHAPTER III.1830.The King as "bon bourgeois" — Mobbed — Street song about him — A sailor in Guildhall — Behaviour of the public at Windsor — Charles X. in England — The "New Police" — A modest advertisement17CHAPTER IV.1830.Opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway — Death of Mr. Huskisson — Agricultural lawlessness — Captain Swing — Executions for riot — Riots throughout the country — Special Commissions — Prayer to be used in churches and chapels28CHAPTER V.1830.Duke of Wellington mobbed and stoned — Owing to riots, the King postponed his visit to the city — No Lord Mayor's show, nor dinner — Riots in the city — Apsley House besieged — Ireland proclaimed — Ferment in the country — Change of Ministry — Royal succession — Scotch regalia — Curious story of a bank-note37CHAPTER VI.1831.Incendiary fires — Captain Swing — The result of Cobbett's lectures — Special Commission — Prosecution of Carlile — Election expenses — List of Close boroughs — Collapse of Reform Bill — The King stoned —Debûtof Princess Victoria — TheTimesand the House of Lords — Bribery at elections — Action for libel — "The Kingv.Cobbett" — Prince Leopold made King of the Belgians49CHAPTER VII.1831.Opening of New London Bridge — After the luncheon — State of the waiters — Provision for the Princess Victoria — Sale of Sir Walter Scott's MSS. — The coronation — Its expenses — A "half crownation" — The Lord Mayor and his gold cup62CHAPTER VIII.1831.Scramble for coronation medals — Bad weather — Fireworks in Hyde Park — Absence from the ceremony of the Duchess of Kent and Princess Victoria — TheTimesthereon — Story of a Great Seal — Reform Bill rejected by the Lords — Reform riots in the country and London — Windows of Apsley House broken by the mob74CHAPTER IX.1831.Reform procession — The Corporation of London and the King — Dreadful riots at Bristol — Riots in other parts of the kingdom — Edward Irving and the "Gift of Tongues" — The cholera — Its spread — State of Ireland — Tithe agitation — Scarcity of food — Repeal of the Union — Cases of violence85CHAPTER X.1832.Commissions at Bristol and Nottingham — Executions — Employment of children in factories — Cholera in London — Day of fast and humiliation — Riot in Finsbury — Cholera riot at Paisley — A small one in London — Decrease of cholera — Number of deaths — Cholera in Ireland — A charm against it — Its effect on rooks — The police, City and Metropolitan101CHAPTER XI.1832.Reform Bill passes the Commons — Scotch boys and the Reform Bill — Proposed increase of the peerage — Passed in the Lords — "The Marylebone or Tory Hunt" — The Duke of Wellington mobbed — The King stoned — The Queen hissed — Archbishop of Canterbury stoned114CHAPTER XII.1832.The first reformed Parliament — Steam communication with India — State of Ireland — Lawless behaviour — Malversation of justice — O'Connell and the Trades' Political Union — Crime in Ireland124CHAPTER XIII.1833.Employment of children in factories — Evidence — Passing of Factory Act — Gambling — Crockford's club — Gambling "hells" — Police case132CHAPTER XIV.1833.The overland route to India — The Government and Lieutenant Waghorn — Police magistrate and the press — Cobbett and the British Museum — Prevalence of influenza — "National Convention" riot — Policeman killed — The coroner and the jury — Adulteration of tea143CHAPTER XV.1833.The Queen's visit to the City — Her unpopularity — King's dislike of the Duchess of Kent — Hungerford Market opened — Death and funeral of Wilberforce — Abolition of slavery — Synopsis of Act — A Women's rowing match — List of periodicals and their circulation — Return of Captain Ross — State of Ireland — Passing of "Coercion Bill," etc.154CHAPTER XVI.1834.Corporation commission — Curious advertisement — Discovery of treasure — Bribery at Liverpool — Duke of York's statue — Trades' unions — Skit thereon — Riot at Oldham — Unionist oath — Union meeting and monster petition — Its fate — Duke of Wellington made Chancellor of Oxford — The Princess Victoria's lover165CHAPTER XVII.1834.Crockford's and game — Thechefin trouble — Burning of the Houses of Parliament — The tapestry in the House of Lords — Story of one piece — Temporary House of Lords — Tithe riots in Ireland — Change of Ministry178CHAPTER XVIII.1835.First cargo of ice to India — Election riots at Halifax and in Scotland — A female sailor — The new temporary Houses of Parliament — The King and others hissed — Question of admitting ladies — A political skit — Deaths of Hunt and Cobbett189CHAPTER XIX.1835.Gambling house police case — Curious superstition — A cook's letter to her mistress — Jews and public employment — Fire at Hatfield House — Curious discovery of jewels — Scarcity in Ireland201CHAPTER XX.1836.Curious case of a girl stolen by gipsies — Superstitionrelight at Christmas in the North of England — Designs for New Houses of Parliament — King William III. statue blown up — Admission of ladies to the House of Commons — Stuart impostors — An inter-university boat race — How Cambridge came to have light blue as a colour214CHAPTER XXI.1836.Report on the British Museum — The King and the Duchess of Kent; a scene — Inauguration of George III.'s Statue at Charing Cross — Poetry at the police court — The trip of the Nassau balloon226CHAPTER XXII.1837.Epidemic of influenza — A scene in some Metropolitan graveyards — Lord de Ros and his cheating at cards — Invention of sewing machine — Coming of age of Princess Victoria — Illuminations, etc. — The Spitalfield's silk weavers' ball — Illness of the King — His death and burial235CHAPTER XXIII.Men's dress — Education — School advertisements — The original of Squeers — Girls' schools — Tea as a meal — Food — A foreigner's sketch of an English dinner-party — A high-class dinner — An ideal dinner248CHAPTER XXIV.Clubs — Theatres — Other amusements — A foreigner's idea of London — London streets and noises — "Buy a broom?" girls262CHAPTER XXV.Holborn Viaduct — Omnibuses — Cabs — Hansom's patent — Posting — Mail coaches — Stage coaches — Hotels277CHAPTER XXVI.Steam carriages on roads — Commission thereon — Steam omnibus — Railways — A nuisance — Railways started during the reign — Opening of the Greenwich Railway286CHAPTER XXVII.Cases of wife selling — Duelling — Cases of — O'Connell and D'Israeli — Other duels295CHAPTER XXVIII.Smuggling — Its prevalence — Cases — Great smuggling of silks, etc. — More cases311CHAPTER XXIX.Legitimate trade — The "truck" system — Its downfall — State of trade — Newspaper stamps — Steel pens — Literature — List of authors — Painters — Sculptors321CHAPTER XXX.Musicians — Paganini — His avarice — Ole Bull — Curious musical instruments — Jim Crow — The opera and its singers — The ballet — Actors, etc. — Madame Vestris's leg334CHAPTER XXXI.Architects and civil engineers — Men of science — Scientific societies — Medical men — Lawyers — "Tracts for the Times" — Curates' pay — Flogging in the army and navy — Crime — Transportationversushulks — Stories of convicts344