CHAP. III. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE INHABITANTS OF LONDON FROM 1700 TO 1800. (continued 2)

The customs and manners of a part of the community of 1735 are satirically detailed in a "Covent-garden Eclogue:"

The St. James's Evening Post of August 21, 1735, contains the following paragraph: "Yesterday the antient company of Archers of this City met at the Pied Horse, at the Artillery-ground, where a grand entertainment was provided for them, after which they performed their exercise with bows and arrows. This company is of several hundred years standing, and used formerly to muster at this time of the year in the Artillery-ground, as our Trained Bands do now. Some time after the invention of fire-arms the City voted them useless; but they have ever since kept up the company and their annual meeting, having a Marshal handsomely equipped in a green livery with a large silver badge."

Michaelmas or Mile-end fair was presented as a nuisance by the Grand Jury of Middlesex in 1735, which had been extended to seven days continuance beyond the original grant.

Another Royal marriage was celebrated in 1736, which is so amply described by Read in his Weekly Journal of May 1, that I cannot do better than give it in his own words:

"Monday between one and two in the afternoon his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales set out from St. James's, and crossing the water at Whitehall, went on horseback to Greenwich, where he dined with the Princess, and returned in the evening to St. James's in his barge.

"The crowd of people at Greenwich was the greatest that had ever been seen; it is thought there was not less than 10,000 persons at one time in the Park: and her Highness had the goodness to shew herself for upwards of half an hour from the gallery of the Palace, which drew the loudest acclamations.

"On Tuesday the King's leading coach, followed by his Majesty's body coach, drawn by his cream-coloured horses, brought her Highness and her retinue to Lambeth, where the King's barge waited, and carried her over to Whitehall, and from thence in the King's own chair through the Park to St. James's house, where the Court was in the Drawing-rooms, and appeared in their new clothes to receive her with all imaginable splendor.

"When her Royal Highness the Princess came to St. James's, she was dressed in a suit of rich silk; deep ground, trimmed with gold; and embroidered with green, scarlet, and purple flowers: in which manner her Highness was so condescending, that she shewed herself in several of the windows of the Prince of Wales's apartments, to gratify the curiosity of the people, who expressed their joy and satisfaction with the loudest acclamations.

"About four o'clock her Highness dined with the Prince of Wales and the Princess Amelia and Caroline, in his Royal Highness's apartment.

"Between six and seven o'clock her Highness, dressed in her wedding-clothes, which were of silver tissue, and all over white, with her hair curled and stuck with jewels, after the German fashion, was presented to her Majesty, who presented her to the Prince; whose clothes were of silver tissue, with white shoes and stockings.

"In the evening the ceremony of the marriage was performed; and the procession from the King's apartments down the great stairs, under the Piazza, to the Chapel Royal, was as follows: Four drums, drum-major, eight trumpets, four and four. Kettle-drum. Serjeant-trumpeter in his collar of SS. bearing his mace. The master of the ceremonies, with the Right Honourable the Lord Carnarvon, Gentleman Usher, between the two senior heralds. The Prince of Wales in his nuptial apparel, invested with the collar of the garter, conducted by the Lord Chamberlain and Vice Chamberlain, and supported by two Lords Bachelors. The officers attendant upon the Prince followed by pairs.

"Upon the entry into the Chapel, the Master of the Ceremonies, with the Gentleman Usher, went to the seats assigned them; and the Bridegroom was brought to the stool placed for his Highness, fronting his Majesty's Throne.

"The Lord Chamberlain and Vice Chamberlain returned to conduct the Bride; and the two Heralds returned with them to perform other functions, as did the Drums and Trumpets.

Procession of the Bride.

"Gentleman Usher to the Bride, between two Provincial Kings at Arms. The Bride, in her nuptial habit, with a coronet, conducted by the Lord Chamberlain and Vice Chamberlain, and supported by the Duke of Cumberland; her train borne by ten young ladies.

"Upon the entry, the Bride was conducted to her stool, below her Majesty's Chair of State, opposite to the Prince; the Duke sat on a stool near the Altar; and the ladies who bore the train stood near the Bride, to perform their duties while the Marriage was solemnizing.

"The Lord Chamberlain and Vice Chamberlain returned, with the Provincial Kings, to wait upon his Majesty.

His Majesty proceeded in this manner.

"Knight Marshal. Pursuivants. Heralds. Sir Robert Walpole, Knight of the Garter, with his collar. The Comptroller of the Household. The Bishop of London, &c. Two Provincial Kings at Arms. Lord Privy Seal. Lord Chancellor. Garter Principal King at Arms, between two Gentlemen Ushers. The Earl Marshal with his gold staff. The Sword of State carried by the Duke of Portland. His Majesty in the Great Collar of the Garter. The Lord of the Bed-chamber in waiting.

"Her Majesty, preceded by Mr. Coke, Vice Chamberlain, and supported by the Earl of Grantham, her Lord Chamberlain, and the Earl of Pomfret, her Master of the Horse.

"The Princesses Amelia, Carolina, Mary, and Louisa, supported severally by two Gentlemen Ushers.

"The Ladies of her Majesty's Bed-chamber, Maids of Honour, and Women of the Bed-chamber.

"Upon the entry into the Chapel, none of the persons in this procession remained upon the Hautpas, except the Lord of the Bed-chamber in waiting behind the King, the Lord who bore the Sword, who continued holding it erect upon his Majesty's right-hand, and the Lord Chamberlain, who stood upon the left-hand of his Majesty, having the Vice Chamberlain next to him.

"His Majesty was seated in his Chair of State in the upper angle of the Hautpas, on the right side.

"Her Majesty was seated in her Chair of State, on the other side of the Hautpas.

"And the four Princesses on stools placed next the Duke at the side of the Altar.

"Her Majesty's Lord Chamberlain, Master of the Horse, and Vice Chamberlain, stood upon the Hautpas behind her.

"The Ladies of the Bed-chamber, &c. went to the places assigned them.

"During all this time the organ played; but, as soon as the persons were thus seated, the organ ceased, and Divine Service began.

"After the Bishop of London and Dean of the Chapel had given the Blessing, their Majesties removed to the Throne, erected on the right-hand of the Altar of crimson velvet, richly laced with gold.

"Then the Prince of Wales, leading the Princess of Wales, went up to the Altar, and kneeled there.

"When the Dean had finished the Divine Service, the married pair rose, and retired back to their stools upon the Hautpas; where they remained while an Anthem composed by Mr. Handel was sung by his Majesty's band of musick, which was placed in a gallery over the Communion-table.

The Return was in the manner following.

"The drums, &c. as before.

"The Prince of Wales, supported by two married Dukes, &c.

"The Princess, supported as before.

"Then their Majesties and the Princesses, in the same manner as they went to the Chapel.

"As soon as the Procession came back to the door of the latter Drawing-room, the company stopped; but their Majesties, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke and the Princesses, went in, when the Prince and Princess received their Majesties' blessing.

"About half an hour after ten the Royal Family supped in public, in the Great State Ballroom. Their Majesties were placed at the upper end of the table under a canopy: on the right-hand the Prince of Wales and the Duke; and on the left the Princess of Wales, and the Princesses Amelia, &c.

"The first course consisted of fifteen dishes cold and fifteen hot, the second of thirty dishes hot; and then came the dessert, which formed a fine garden rising to a terrace, the ascent to which was adorned with the resemblance of fountains, grottoes, groves, flowers, &c. In the middle was the Temple of Hymen, the dome of which was supported on transparent columns three foot high. As the meats were the most exquisite and rare that could be procured, so the dessert contained a profusion of the finest fruits, amongst which were cherries in great perfection, apricots, pine-apples, &c. At the end of the first course, their Majesties drank to the Bride and Bridegroom; and soon after, the Prince and Princesses rising up, drank the healths of their Majesties, during which the Duke and Princesses stood likewise. When the Royal Family rose from table, the sweetmeats were distributed amongst the Quality.

"Their Majesties retired to the apartments of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales; the Bride was conducted to her bed-chamber, and the Bridegroom to his dressing-room, where the Duke undressed him, and his Majesty did his Royal Highness the honour to put on his shirt. The Bride was undressed by the Princesses; and being in bed in a rich undress, his Majesty came into the room, and the Prince following soon after in a night-gown of silver stuff, and cap of the finest lace, the Quality were admitted to see the Bride and Bridegroom sitting up in the bed, surrounded by all the Royal Family.

"His Majesty was dressed in a gold brocade turned up with silk, embroidered with large flowers in silver and colours, as was the waistcoat; the buttons and star were diamonds. Her Majesty was in a plain yellow silk, robed and laced with pearl diamonds, and other jewels of immense value.

"The Dukes of Grafton, Newcastle, and St. Alban's, the Earl of Albemarle, Lord Hervey, Colonel Pelham, and many other noblemen, were in gold brocades of 3 to 500l. a suit. The Duke of Marlborough was in a white velvet and gold brocade, upon which was an exceeding rich Point d'Espagne; the Earl of Euston, and many others, were in cloths flowered or sprigged with gold; the Duke of Montague in a gold brocaded tissue. The waistcoats were universally brocades, with large flowers. It is assured that most of the rich cloths were the manufacture of England; and it must be acknowledged, in honour of our own Artists, that the few which were French did not come up to these in richness, goodness, or fancy, as may be seen by the Royal Family, which are all of the British Manufacture.

"The ladies were principally in brocades of gold and silver, with large flowers, and wore their sleeves much lower than had been done for some time.

"Some worthy Citizens, on this further strengthening the Protestant Succession, a truly joyful occasion, finely illuminated the Monument (as was indeed the whole City), to shew their regard to his Majesty, and his most illustrious Family, the great protectors of it.

"At the Drawing-room on Wednesday morning his Royal Highness saluted all the ladies, and afterwards the Princess Amelia presented them to her Royal Highness, to kiss her hand; when the Honourable Colonel Townshend informed her Royal Highness of the names of every particular lady as they came up.

"His Royal Highness presented all his chief officers and servants himself to his Royal Consort; and they had severally the honour of kissing her Royal Highness's hand.

"Wednesday at noon there was the greatest appearance of the Nobility, Quality, and Gentry at Court, that has been known in the memory of man, to congratulate their Royal Highnesses on their nuptials.

"The ladies were variously dressed, though with all the richness and grandeur imaginable; many of them had their heads dressed English of fine Brussels lace, of exceeding rich patterns, made up on narrow wires, and small round rolls, and the hair pinned to large puff caps, and but a few without powder; some few had their hair curled down on the sides: pink and silver, white and gold, were the general knots wore. There were a vast number in Dutch heads, their hair curled down in short curls on the sides and behind; and some had their hair in large ringlets behind, all very much powdered, with ribbands frilled on their heads variously disposed, and some had diamonds set on ribbands on their heads; laced tippets were pretty general, and some had ribbands between the frills; treble-laced ruffles were universally worn, though abundance had them not tacked up. Their gowns were either gold stuffs, or rich silks, with gold or silver flowers, or pink or white silks, with either gold or silver nets, or trimmings; the sleeves to the gowns were middling (not so short as formerly) and wide, and their facings and robings broad; several had flounced sleeves and petticoats, and gold or silver fringe set on the flounces; some had stomachers of the same sort of the gown, others had large bunches of made flowers at their breasts; the gowns were variously pinned, but in general flat, the hoops French, and the petticoats of a moderate length, and a little sloped behind. The ladies were exceeding brilliant likewise in jewels, some had them in their necklaces and ear-rings, others with diamond solitaires to pearl necklaces of three or four rows; some had necklaces of diamonds and pearls intermixed, but made up very broad; several had their gown-sleeves buttoned with diamonds, others had diamond sprigs in their hair, &c. The ladies' shoes were exceeding rich, being either pink, white, or green silk, with gold or silver lace and braid all over, with low heels, and low hind-quarters, and low flaps, and abundance had large diamond shoe-buckles.

"The gentlemen's clothes were generally gold stuffs, flowered velvets, embroidered or trimmed with gold, or cloth trimmed, the colours various. Their waistcoats were also exceeding rich silks flowered with gold, of a large pattern, all open sleeves, and longer than formerly, and the cuff broader; the clothes were longer waisted than of late, and the plaits of the coat were made to stick out very much (in imitation of the ladies hoops) and long. The wigs were of various sorts; the tyes, higher foretops than formerly, and tied behind with a large flat tye; the bag-wigs, &c. as usual. White stockings were universally worn by the gentlemen as well as the ladies.

"Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales left 100 guineas to be distributed among Sir John Jennings's servants at Greenwich.

"The officers of the horse and foot-guards that mounted on Tuesday at St. James's wore Ramellie periwigs by his Majesty's order."

The now almost obsolete practice of giving strong-beer to the populace on public rejoicings always occasioned riots instead of merriment. This assertion is supported by the behaviour of the mob in August 1737, when the present Duchess of Brunswick was born. The Prince of Wales ordered four loads of faggots and a number of tar-barrels to be burnt before Carleton-house as a bonfire, to celebrate the event; and directed the Brewer to his household to place four barrels of beer near it, for the use of those who chose to partake of the beverage, which certain individuals had no sooner done, than they pronounced the liquor of an inferior quality: this declaration served as a signal for revolt, the beer was thrown into each other's faces, and the barrels into the fire, "to the great surprize of the spectators; it being perhaps the first instance of Sir John Barleycorn's being brought to the stake, and publicly burnt by the rabble in Great Britain."

The Prince had the good-nature to order a second bonfire on the succeeding night, and procured the same quantity of beer from another brewer, with which the populace were pleased to be satisfied. Such was the strange disposition of the collected mind of the lower classes; a mind compounded of insensibility of kindness, pride, and independence, that condescended to accept of an entertainment, and that had the ill-nature to condemn the provision even in the presence of their Prince, who must have been ignorant that the beer was bad—if it really was so.

An instance of blind folly arising from a better motive occurred very soon after, during the exercise of an antient custom practised by the mob at that period, though now discontinued.

Two loose women had seized upon an inebriated gentleman, and were conveying him to their lodgings at noon-day: the populace concluded he would at least be robbed, and determined to rescue him immediately; which they did, and severely ducked the women in the Chequers Inn yard. Thus far justice proceeded in its due channel; but an unfortunate journeyman cutler happened to exert himself rather too outrageously, and attracted notice: he was observed to hold the woman or women in a manner that might be supposed real efforts of anger, or as efforts intended to mask an intention to release them; the word was instantly given to duck him as their bully—the women were released, and escaped; the cutler was thrown into the horse-pond in defiance of his protestations of innocence; and when his wife endeavoured to rescue him, she underwent the same discipline.

Many of the follies committed in this wanton manner must doubtlessly have originated from the excessive use of beer and gin; to suppress which, every possible effort was then making; but such was the demand for the latter, that no less than 587 persons were convicted, and paid a penalty of 100l. each, between September 1736 and August 1737, for retailing it, besides 127 committed to Bridewell.

Practical jokes sometimes distinguished the manners of the Citizens of London: those were generally innocent, and generally very silly; but one of a contrary description marked the Autumn of the year just mentioned. A well-dressed man rode down the King's road from Fulham at a most furious rate, commanding each turnpike-gate to be thrown open, as he was a Messenger, conveying the news of the Queen's sudden death. The alarm instantly spread into every quarter of the City; the Trained-bands, who were on their parade, desisted from their exercise, furled their colours, and returned home with their arms reversed. The shop-keepers began to collect sables; when the jest was discovered, but not the author of it.

The following ballad gives a pleasant review of the customs, or, if you please, fashions of the Citizens, previous to 1737, in care of their health:

One of the strange and perverse customs practised by the Society of Quakers is, their determination to open their shops on those days held sacred by other classes of Religion. On the Fast-day of February 1757, the Lord Mayor sent the proper officers to close their windows per force, which they did to the number of 70: yet a person of this persuasion had the presumption to wait on the Chief Magistrate with an anonymous letter he had received, threatening to destroy his house if his windows were opened, at the same time soliciting him to go there and read the Riot Act; thus demanding protection from the vengeance he provoked, by insulting the piety of others, exclusive of the impiety of opposing respect and supplication, directed to the same Divinity he worships.

Curiosity may be said to have become so prevalent throughout all classes of the inhabitants of London, that it is actually a distinguishing trait in their general character; nor is it by any means a new one, an assertion that might be supported by many proofs. An essayist of 1757 says: "I have that opinion of the ladies and gentlemen of the present age, that if the French were in full march along the New-road, and they had no engagement of pleasure on their hands, they would go out to see a new army, as, indeed, there would be a variety in it; the clothes, standards, &c. being different; nor do I believe that any one person would put off their intended pleasure, even though they heard the enemy's drums beating."

PORTRAIT OF A BEAU, 1757.

London Chronicle.

TERMS—VACATIONS.

The reader who has waded through my Londinium will find that several thousands of our vast community are of that profession which might furnish matter for a very considerable number of pages—Lawyers; but what can I say of their manners or customs, without incurring a charge of fixing upon a single class, and of thus appearing particular in praising or censuring? In this dilemma I have very fortunately met with the "Long Vacation, by Jemmy Copywell, of Lincoln's-Inn;" which the writer and the editor of the London Chronicle, foreseeing the use I should make of it, have kindly preserved for the present purpose.

The conduct of both sexes, when mixed in what are generally termed parties, can only be known by the person who actually views it. How then am I (who had not received the breath of life in 1758) to draw a faithful picture of the manners of that period? There is but one way, quotation from contemporary moralists. The Craftsman says, "A Frenchman has no more idea of a party of pleasure without ladies, than an Englishman can entertain the least conception of enjoying himself until they retreat. From those opposite dispositions it arises, that the first introduces himself with a becoming unconcern into company, and master of that bienseance which distinguishes the gentleman, and performs all offices of life without the least embarrassment; whereas nothing is more common among us, than to find gentlemen of family and fortune, who know nothing of the fair sex but what they have collected from the most abandoned part of it, and can scarce reckon a virtuous family within the scope of their whole acquaintance. It is not unpleasant to observe one of this class, when chance or necessity has brought him in a room with ladies of reputation. An awkward restraint hangs about him, and he is almost afraid to speak, lest he should inadvertently bolt out something, which, though extremely suitable to the dialect of Covent-garden, would be grossly offensive to those females who had not received their rudiments of education in that seminary. The gloom that hangs over an English company while the ladies remain, and the reciprocal restraint that each sex seems to be upon the other, has been frequently a subject of ludicrous observation to foreigners; and, indeed, the fair-ones themselves, though natives, and to the manner born, frequently express astonishment, what mysteries the men can have to celebrate, so opposite to those of the bona dea, that no female must be present at the ceremony.

"At the same time that I condemn my countrymen for separating themselves from those who have the art of refining every joy this world affords; I am sorry to be obliged to observe, that the ladies themselves do in some measure contribute to this great evil. The scandalous practice so prevalent at present of giving up their whole thoughts as well as time to cards, has made the company of women, pardon the expression, extremely insipid to those who would willingly consider them as rational creatures, and do not depend upon superior skill in the game of whist for a subsistence. Is it to be imagined that a man, whose mind is the least raised above the vulgar, will devote that time which he may employ in conversing agreeably, either with the dead or the living, to those assemblies, where no ideas enter beyond the respective excellences of Garrick and Cibber; and the several possible cases so profoundly calculated by the incomparable Mr. Hoyle? Yet, from declining these places, I know many intimate friends who have acquired the odious character of women-haters; though at the same time they entertain the highest esteem for that amiable sex, and sincerely regret that the tyrant Fashion has put it out of their power to enjoy more of their company than a bare view of their persons, agitated by the various and uncertain revolutions of Fortune's wheel."

EDUCATION OF YOUTH.

Foreigners very justly conceive that a double advantage may be accomplished in teaching their languages to youth and adults, by introducing them into their families; the latter pronounce nothing but what is to be acquired, and the teacher obtains a handsome sum for lodgings and board. It may be supposed that this was a modern invention. Who is there that doth not recollect the Advertisements of Monsieur Du M——d; but Monsieur Switterda precedes him a whole century; and proves that the rage for acquiring French was in full vigour when our grandfathers were infants. "Mr. Switterda has lately given, in the Postman, a very kind and candid invitation to the nobility and gentry to learn of him to speak Latin, French, and High Dutch fluently, with as good grace as if it were natural to them, and no wise pednatick, according to Grammar rules, and to explain any author, as Erasmus, C. Nepos, &c.; but few noblemen and ladies of quality have taken notice of his proposals, which, if he had sent them in any Country beyond Sea, had been well accepted, to his great advantage. He intends to dispose of two Copper-plates, containing the grounds of the Latin tongue. Those who will study in Divinity, Law, or Physick, may but come twice a-week to him to learn Latin. He can be aspersed by none, but by slanderous and interested persons, who have need to lodge a competent dose of hellebore in themselves. Youth may board with him at his house in Arundel-street, next to the Temple passage, where you may have the grounds of the Latin tongue in three sheets of paper, or grammatical, and Latin and French historical cards, and a packet to learn Copiam Verborum and Syntaxim ornatam. He teacheth also in Drury-lane, within two doors of the Dog-tavern, at Mr. Peache's house, or at any place where ladies and gentlemen will appoint him, if it be worth his acceptance. Thursdays and Saturdays, from five till eight, he teacheth at the Cock and Bottle in the Strand, next to Salisbury-street. Invidiam solertia et virtute vincam." 1699.

Ladies boarding-schools were in high reputation at the same period, and had been so for many years before. Mrs. Bellpine, daughter to Mr. La Marre, a French Minister, who had kept one for thirty years, hired Mary-le-bon house, near the church, where she professed to teach every thing then taught in boarding-schools, together with musick, dancing, and singing.

Observers frequently attacked the general system of female education, and as frequently exposed the frivolous pursuits taught in the various schools near the Metropolis; even in the year 1759, two or three houses might be seen in almost every village, with the inscription, "Young Ladies boarded and educated," where every description of tradesmen sent their children to be instructed, not in the useful attainments necessary for humble life, but the arts of coquetry and self-consequence—in short, those of a young lady. The person who received the children had then the sounding title of Governess; and French and Dancing-masters prepared the girl for the hour when contempt for her parents' deficiencies was to be substituted for affection and respect. Instead of reading their native language with propriety and just emphasis, it was totally neglected, and in place of nervous sentences and flowing periods, the vulgarisms of low life were continued; while the lady repeated familiar words of the French language with a sound peculiar to Boarding-schools, and quite unintelligible to a native of France: the pleasing labours of the needle were thrown aside, and the young lady soon became an adept in imitating laces and spoiling the beauty of coloured silks.

Such were the follies of 1759; and they so nearly resemble those of 1807, that I really dread I shall be supposed to criticise the moderns, when I am in truth repeating the animadversions of an author probably long since deceased.

"Jan. 29, 1759.

"At a meeting of the Society for Reformation of Manners, especially with respect to the Lord's-day: Ordered, that the thanks of the Society be returned to the worthy person, unknown, for his kind present of ten guineas. They also hereby give notice to all grocers, chandlers, butchers, publicans, pastry-cooks, and others whom it may concern; that they are resolved to put the laws in execution against all such as shall continue to offend, by exercising their callings on the Lord's day, in such a manner as may most effectually suppress that great and growing evil, whether by indictments or otherwise, of which they are desired to take this friendly public warning."

The reader will observe, that it has long been customary for tradesmen of the above description to sell on Sundays; but it should be recollected that the lowest classes of the community are sometimes paid very late on Saturday evenings, and that they have it not always in their power to arrange their time, so as to procure every necessary for the only holiday they have. When such wants are supplied by the tradesman before the hour of Divine service, he must be a rigid moralist indeed who would prosecute the offender. If persons in opulent circumstances were in the practice of purchasing on Sundays, it could be attributed to no other cause than mere indolence in themselves and servants, and they would deserve punishment; but I cannot help thinking a grocer or chandler would find very little account from opening his shop for such, as I do not believe there are five in each parish throughout London. For the pastry-cooks and publicans I have no excuse.

There were people in the middle of the last Century who had so little regard for decency, that they even interrupted those solemn hours of silence which are devoted, in our Courts of Justice, to ascertaining the guilt or innocence of persons whose lives are in question. Would it be credited that when an evidence was speaking, a Jury and a Judge listening, spectators should be seen in deep discourse upon some irrelevant subject, others quarrelling about places, and young ladies actually sewing each other's clothes together amidst titters and suppressed laughter—yet such was the fact. Surely this practice cannot now prevail.

Illegal concerts were held in 1759, and the conductors of them collected innocent young men and apprentices, by declaring that the receipts were intended for charitable purposes. When assembled, notorious Procuresses made their appearance, attended by the Cyprians, their progeny; and the consequence to the manners of youth may be imagined. Sir John Fielding, acting under the authority of the following clause in a very salutary Act of Parliament, and supported by a party of guards, dispersed one of those riotous assemblies in April of the above year, and sent the ladies to Bridewell:

"Any house, room, garden, or other place, kept for public dancing, music, or other public entertainment of the like kind, in London and Westminster, or within 20 miles thereof, without a licence had for that purpose, shall be deemed a disorderly house or place; and that it shall be lawful for any person, authorised by warrant from a Justice, to enter such house, and seize every person found therein; and that every person keeping such house, &c. without such licence shall forfeit 100l. and be otherwise punishable as the Law directs in case of disorderly houses."

Since Sir John Fielding's time, the publick have frequently had occasion to applaud the vigilance of the Police in their attempts to prevent illegal assemblies, whether under the title of concerts or dances; and instances might be related when dancing-masters and groupes of their pretended scholars have visited the watch-house; but the most obstinate places of vicious amusement were the Dog and Duck, and the Apollo-gardens, in St. George's-fields; the latter of which is not only now suppressed, but the site has become a mere level, and the Dog and Duck served for several years as a public kitchen for charitable purposes, after the keeper had been expelled.

At the latter place there was a long room furnished with tables and benches, and at the upper-end an organ. The company who assembled in the evening, consisted of some of the finest women of the town of the middle rank, their bullies, and such young men as could, without reflection, condescend to supply the thirsty palates of the women with inflaming liquids: the conversation was—Reader, imagine what!

The Apollo-gardens might accidentally receive decent visitors, but I presume their stay to have been short. These places flourished much too long; infinite injury was done by them. But we have now the consolation to reflect, that Vice is compelled to hide her fascinating visage; and though it is impossible to dive into all her haunts, we do not find them blazoned with large characters in the public ways, where her votaries however contrive intimations which are passed unobserved by the virtuous, but understood by the vicious; and these Bagnio's, Seraglio's, or whatever else the reader pleases to term them, are in many instances large and handsome houses.

The lady who trades upon her own account can never be at a loss for a sign to indicate her profession, as long as her own sweet person is permitted to appear at a window, either in elegant disorder, or habited fit for a drawing-room. How shall I number these signs, or the streets where they most abound? The Reader would disbelieve the enumeration.

When some concurring circumstances have prevented the rapid letting of new houses in parts of the parish of St. Mary-le-bon, I believe it might be safely asserted, that builders have admitted persons into them who had a girl in almost every room as a distinct lodger; but they are generally dislodged as respectable inhabitants approach, and they return to their previous haunts in more obscure situations. Exeter-street was dreadfully infested with wretched women and thieves in 1759, and great difficulty occurred in driving them from it; that it has been accomplished, may serve as a hint for some modern unfortunate neighbourhoods.

There are but few of our Essayists who have not reprobated the distribution of vales to the domesticks of those to whom visits were paid. When the custom was in full vigour, the office of a footman became very lucrative, and the division of the profits arising from the contributions of a large company, was a matter of no small importance to the parti-coloured mendicants; who arranged themselves in their Master's hall in double ranks, prepared to affront those who infringed their rights, and were barely civil when they received sums which would have procured meals for fifty poor families. Card-money, or money deposited under the candlesticks for the servants where card-parties were held, deserved less reprehension, as it was in every one's power to avoid gaming; but when a man in moderate circumstances was insulted for not giving that which was necessary for his own existence, or was compelled to decline an invitation to his injury, we cannot but wonder that such a custom should have prevailed for a year, much less a Century or more. It was meanness in the master to suffer such an exaction, and folly to comply with it when himself a visitor. Some serious attempts were made about 1760 to abolish Vales, which has been at length gradually accomplished, though there are still unthinking people who give where it is not expected.

Cock-fighting, Cudgel-playing, and Boxing, were practised in some parts of the Metropolis in 1761; and most of the promoters of those elegant customs escaped punishment. Higginson, master of the Tennis-court and Little Theatre in James-street, near the Haymarket, less fortunate, was tried at the bar of the King's-bench, and convicted of encouraging this species of brutality; however, Mr. Higginson contrived either to set the verdict at defiance, or to evade future penalties, for subsequent newspapers contained long accounts of a battle between Meggs, a collier, and the celebrated Nailor, at the Tennis-court, where the seats let at 5s. and 10s. 6d. to an overflowing audience. The reader will forgive me, if I at once proceed to notice this hateful custom of Boxing in its present state; he need not be informed that it has been encouraged by persons of the highest rank, who have been and are now known to disgrace their situation in life, by witnessing the infliction of blows which sometimes produce death, and always disfigure the human form, for the avaricious purpose of betting on either party, to the injury at least of their fortunes.

The Magistracy, well aware of the wiles and power of their antagonists in the race between Justice and Depravity, made but few movements for a considerable length of time, by which means they gained to their support all well-disposed persons; in consequence, their exertions have been so far successful, that when matches are made for battles, cavalcades of Lords, Knights, Commoners, dustmen, and the rabble in general, may be observed in motion, destined for an arena—they know not where, as the spot fixed upon for the scene of combat is frequently occupied by a party of Officers of the Police previous to their arrival. Thus defeated, they have been known to traverse the roads and fields for miles, to enter some jurisdiction independent of their persecutors. Cock-fighting is yet permitted to be publicly advertised, though but seldom; and Cudgel-playing has lately exhibited some strong symptoms of revival.

"HINTS BY THE COBLER OF CRIPPLEGATE, 1761[336:A].

"He could wish to see Butchers' boys, who gallop through the streets of London, punished for so doing, or at least their horses seized for the use of the poor of the parish in which they so offend; for, though a poor man's life may not be worth preserving, his limbs may be of use to him while he crawls upon earth.

"Brewers starting their butts in the day-time, he considers as an intolerable nuisance.

"Ruinous Houses ought to be pulled down, because they may as well tumble upon the head of an Alderman as upon that of a Cobler.

"A regulation in Smithfield-market, he thinks, ought to take place, because a mad Ox may as well gore the lady of a Knight Banneret, as a poor Oyster-wench.

"Worn-out Hackney-coaches should in a particular manner be looked into, because none but those in easy circumstances can be affected by their breaking-down in the streets. This regulation in no shape regards my family, because I never suffer my Moll to enter one till I have first properly surveyed it.

"That Cheesemongers should not set out their butter and cheese so near the edge of their shop-windows, nor put their firkins in the path-ways, by which many a good coat and silk gown may be spoiled; as by advertising in the papers his shop will be sufficiently known, without carrying home the shop-bill upon their clothes.

"Ladders, pieces of timber, &c. should by no means be suffered to be carried upon men's shoulders within the posts of this City, because, by a sudden stop, they may as well poke out the eye of a rich man as that of a poor one.

"Chairmen, as they are a kind of human nags, ought to amble without-side the posts as well as other brutes.

"It is needless for ladies of a certain cast to patrole the streets at noon-day with a bundle in one hand, as they carry an evident sign of their profession in their eye.

"Long swords are a nuisance in the City at Change-time, as the wearer may very well receive a bill without that dangerous weapon; and as it is not often he comes into it to pay one.

"Churches are no places to sleep in, because, if a person snores too loud, he not only disturbs the congregation, but is apt to ruffle the preacher's temper.

"Barbers and Chimney-sweepers have no right by charter to rub against a person well-dressed, and then offer him satisfaction by single combat.

"Splashing a gentleman with white silk stockings designedly is a breach of decency, and utterly unknown at Wapping or Hockley in the Hole.

"That reading these hints and not endeavouring to redress them, will be a fault somewhere, but not in

Crispin."

The whimsical manner in which the above customs are reprehended, was fairly matched by the following notice from the Publick Advertiser, issued in downright serious earnest.

"To the Inhabitants of the Parish of St. Faith.

"I have observed of late years, that the London meeting-houses of all Sectaries have crowded audiences, and that the Prayers of our established Church are read, and the Sermons of her Ministers preached, to empty seats, unless at places where some new-fangled doctrines are propagated to captivate weak minds. It becomes me as an honest man, and agreeable to the oath I have taken, earnestly to admonish you to attend the service of the Church on Sundays, unless prevented by occasions that are lawful.

"It requires I should give you this notice publicly, that no person may have reason to think me over-officious, if he finds his name among the presentments my oath obliges me to exhibit before the Ecclesiastical Court at the expiration of my office.

David Rice, Churchwarden."

CELEBRATION OF THE PRESENT MONARCH'S ACCESSION—MARRIAGE—AND VISIT TO GUILDHALL.

The spirits of the Community were never more exhilarated than at the auspicious period which gave England her present King and Queen. The Coronation was necessarily similar to those described in Londinium Redivivum; and the simplicity of our Church in the article of marriage admits of little more splendour than that of dress, at all times superb on such occasions in the British court. The fireworks, illuminations, and behaviour of the populace, who were in some instances regaled with beer round a bonfire, was generally decorous, and in some measure compels me to silence as to incidents, except in one particular case, when an odd scene of midnight gratitude was exhibited to Earl Temple and Mr. Pitt, who were returning incog. from Guildhall, where they had dined on the 9th of November 1761. The instant those Patriots were recognized, the multitude crowded round the carriage, impeded its progress, and shouted with so much ardour, that the sleeping neighbours were roused, and, when they had discovered the cause of the tumult, heartily joined in the shouts with nightcaps instead of hats in hand.

The report of the Committee appointed to provide the entertainment on the above day, will evince how well they performed their duty.

"At a Court of Common Council held June 17, 1762, the following Report was presented to the Court:

"To the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons of the City of London, in Common-Council assembled.

"We your Committee, appointed by your order, of the third day of October last, to manage the entertainment for their Majesties at the Guildhall of this City, on the then ensuing Lord Mayor's Day, beg leave to report, that duly sensible of the great honour done us in this appointment, we cheerfully devoted our time and utmost endeavours to prepare and regulate the said entertainment, so as best to answer the intention of this honourable Court.

"In the preparations for the intended feast, your Committee omitted no expence that might serve to improve its splendour, elegance, or accommodation: whilst on the other hand they retrenched every charge that was not calculated to that end, however warranted by former precedents. Their Majesties having expressed their Royal inclinations to see the Procession of the Lord Mayor to Guildhall, the Committee obtained Mr. Barclay's house in Cheapside for that purpose, where proper refreshments were provided, and every care taken to accommodate their Majesties with a full view of the whole cavalcade.

"The great hall and adjoining apartments were decorated and furnished with as much taste and magnificence as the shortness of the time for preparation and the nature of a temporary service would permit: the Hustings where their Majesties dined, and the new Council Chamber, to which they retired both before and after dinner, being spread with Turkey carpets, and the rest of the floors over which their Majesties were to pass with blue cloth, and the whole illuminated with near three thousand wax tapers in chandeliers, lustres, girandoles, and sconces.

"A select band of music, consisting of fifty of the best hands, placed in a superb gallery, erected on purpose at the lower end of the Hall, entertained their Majesties with a concert during the time of dinner, under the direction of a gentleman justly celebrated for his great musical talents; whilst four other galleries (all covered with crimson, and ornamented with festoons) exhibited to their Majesties a most brilliant appearance of five hundred of the principal Citizens of both sexes.

"Their Majesties table was served with a new set of rich plate, purchased on this occasion, and covered with all the delicacies which the season could furnish, or expence procure, and prepared by the best hands.

"A proportionable care was taken of the several other tables provided for the Foreign Ambassadors and Ministers; the Lords and Gentlemen of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council; the Lord Chancellor and Judges; the Lords and Ladies in waiting; the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, Sheriffs, and Common Council; and many others, both of the Nobility and Gentry: the whole number of guests within the Hall, including the galleries, being upwards of twelve hundred; and that of the Gentlemen Pensioners, Yeomen of the Guard, Horse and Horse-Grenadier Guards, and servants attendant upon their Majesties, and the Royal Family, and who were entertained at places provided in the neighbourhood, amounting to seven hundred and twenty-nine.

"And that this Court may form some judgment of the manner of the entertainment, your Committee have hereunto subjoined the bill of fare of their Majesty's table, and the totals of the several bills on this occasion, amounting to 6898l. 5s. 4d.; which, your Committee have the satisfaction to acquaint this Honourable Court, have been all ordered for payment.

"Your Committee, likewise, having provided a great variety of the choicest wines, took care that every guest should be supplied with plenty and dispatch; and yet the various services performed without hurry or confusion.

"For this purpose your Committee issued no more tickets for admission than what (considering the necessary number of attendants, amounting to two hundred and forty persons) would fill the Hall without incommoding the Royal Personages for whom the feast was intended.

"And to prevent as much as possible the intrusion of strangers (too frequent on such occasions) your Committee directed a temporary porch to be erected in the front of the Hall, where gentlemen of trust were placed at three several bars.

"Upon the whole, your Committee omitted no care or pains to render the entertainment as commodious and agreeable as possible to the Royal Guests, and in some measure expressive of the zeal and veneration of this Honourable Court for their august Sovereign, his most amiable Consort, and illustrious Family, and of their sense of his gracious condescension in honouring this City with his Royal Presence: happy if they have in any degree answered expectation, and are allowed to have done justice to the honourable trust reposed in them. Signed this 15th day of June, 1762.

"S. Fludyer,

Robert Alsop,

Richard Glyn,

Francis Gosling,

Thomas Long,

Robert Wilsonn,

Francis Ellis,

Henry Kent,

James Walton,

Charles Meredith,

John Rivington,

Thomas Cogan,

Edward Waldo,

W. Reeves,

Samuel Freeman,

William Tyser,

John Paterson."

THE KING'S TABLE.

Totals of the several Bills.

£. s. d.

Mr. George Dance, Clerk of the Works 65 4 6

Mr. Richard Gripton, Coffee-man 56 10 0

Ditto, Coffee, Tea, &c. for the Committee 31 13 0

Mr. John Read, Carpenter 876 6 0

Mr. Kuhff, Confectioner 212 1 0

Mr. Wilder, ditto 121 14 0

Mr. Scott, ditto 91 14 0

Messrs. Kuhff, Wilder, and Scott, ditto 174 9 0

Mr. Baughan, Wax Chandler 31 0 0

Mr. Garrard, ditto 30 12 0

Mrs. Jones, ditto 30 12 0

Mr. Cotterel, Chinaman 30 11 0

Mr. Vere, ditto 18 12 0

Mr Wylde, Paul's-head Tavern 47 13 0

Mr. Edward Wix, Bricklayer 147 16 0

Mr. Charles Easton, Mason 6 4 0

Messrs. Alexander and Shrimpton, Smiths 300 11 0

Mr. Peter Roberts, Remembrancer 63 0 0

Messrs. Wareham, Oswald, Angel, Horton and Birch, Cooks 1600 0 0

Mr. Stanley, Band of Musick 115 0 0

Mr. Thomas Pattle, Hall-keeper 126 0 0

Messrs. Chesson, Saunders, and Woodroffe, Upholsterers 458 19 0

Mr. Allan, Wine 178 12 0

Mr. Francis Magnus, ditto 175 8 0

Mr. Frederick Standert, Hock 116 8 0

Messrs. Brown and Righton, Wine 48 5 0

Mr. Thomas Burfoot and Son, Woollen-drapers 258 5 0

Messrs. Pistor and Son, ditto 74 13 0

Mr. Thomas Gilpin, Plate 57 17 0

Mr. Deputy Samuel Ellis and Richard Cleeve, Pewterers 264 3 0

Mr. Christopher Dent, Butler 190 0 0

Mr. Robert Dixon, Baker 8 0 10

Mrs. Rachel Stephens, Brewer 8 8 0

Messrs. Barber and Shuttleworth, Fruiterers 100 0 0

Messrs. Mason and Whitworth, Ribbands 7 3 0

Mr. Charles Gardner, Engraver 23 13 0

Artillery Company 20 0 0

Mr. Charles Rivington, Printer 3 3 0

City Musick 13 3 0

Mr. Bromwich, Papier Maché 70 14 0

Mr. James Dobson, Bear Inn, Basinghall-street 42 15 0

Mr. John Handford, Swan with Two Necks, Lad-lane 20 15 0

Mr. John Greenhow, Castle, in Wood-street 29 5 0

Mr. Richard Overhall, Blossom's-inn, in Lawrence-lane 34 5 0

Mr. Thomas Whaley, Bell-inn, in Wood street 12 10 0

Mr. Richard Walkden, Stationer 6 15 0

City Marshal 100 0 0

Mrs. Mary Harrington, Glazier 15 16 0

Messrs. Willis and Machel, Plumber 63 12 0

Messrs. Pope and Son, Painters 27 18 0

Heron Powney, Esq. Sword-bearer's claim 5 0 0

Mr. William Palmer, Senior Attorney of the Mayor's Court, claim 2 0 0

Serjeants of the Chamber, for delivery of the Tickets, &c. 4 10 0

Yeomen of the Chamber's claim 4 0 0

Peter Denny, for lighting the Chandeliers 20 0 0

Sir James Hodges, Town-clerk, for attending the Committee 157 10 0

William Rix, Clerk to Sir James Hodges, for ditto 15 15 0

Andrew Boson, Hall-keeper's man 10 10 0

Six Marshal's-men 1 10 0

Six Necessary Women 6 6 0

Town-clerk's Servants 5 5 0

Chamberlain's Household Servants 5 5 0

Messrs. Chesson, Woodroffe, and Saunders, Extra Bill 10 10 0

Mr. Thomas Gilpin, for the use of Plate 20 0 0

Mr. Chamberlain's Clerks 5 5 0

Daniel Philpot, Esq. Cook to his Majesty 10 10 0

Thomas Denny, for attending the Committee 1 1 0

—————

Total 6898 5 4

—————

It was ordered that the said Report be entered in the Journal of the Court; and the following motion being made, was unanimously agreed to:

"That the thanks of this Court be, and are hereby given, to the Committee appointed to conduct the entertainment of their Majesties and the Royal Family at Guildhall, on Lord Mayor's day last, for their constant and spirited attention, in that service, to the honour of the Crown, and the dignity of this City."

A futile plan has long been in use, intended to lessen the number of women of the town; and particularly in 1762, when the Society for the Reformation of Manners followed an old and unprofitable example, by sending some of their constables through the streets to apprehend those miserable young persons; 40 were taken to Bridewell, eleven were whipped, one sent to the Magdalen, and the remainder are said to have been returned to their friends. Such has been the practice at long intervals ever since, perhaps with some variations in the punishment inflicted, and I am afraid an omission of enquiring for their friends. One need only pass through the Strand and Fleet-street late in the evening, to perceive how ineffectual this method of reformation has been.

It appears from a very solemn address to the publick inserted in the Newspapers for 1762, that the brutal custom of throwing at Cocks on Shrove Tuesday was not then so uncommon as it happily is at present.

When we are passing through the streets of London, it but too frequently happens that our ears are offended by hearing shocking oaths, repeated with an emphasis which indicates violent irritation; but, upon observing the parties thus offending against the laws of morality and of the realm more closely, it may be immediately perceived that nothing particular has occurred to produce anger, and that the vice has become so much a custom, that oaths are now mere flowers of rhetorick with the vulgar.

However unpleasant the reflection, we may console ourselves in the certainty that we are not more reprehensible than our predecessors have been; as a proof, I present the reader with an excellent Charge delivered by Sir John Fielding, April 6, 1763, at Guildhall, Westminster.

"A Charge delivered to the Grand Jury, at the General Quarter Session of the Peace, held at Guildhall, Westminster, on Wednesday, April 6, 1763, by Sir John Fielding, Knight, Chairman of the said Session. Published at the unanimous Request of the Magistrates then present, and the Grand Jury."

In order to remind the Grand Jury of their duty, rather than to inform them of it, Sir John Fielding considers, 1st, the object of the enquiry they are expected to make, and 2dly, the manner in which it might be made.

The object of it is, offences towards God, the King, to one another, and to the publick in general.

Speaking of the offences against God, "I cannot sufficiently lament (says this devout Magistrate) that shameful, inexcusable, and almost universal practice of prophane swearing in our streets: a crime so easy to be punished, and so seldom done, that mankind almost forget it is an offence; and, to our dishonour be it spoken, it is almost peculiar to the English nation! I beg, Gentlemen, you would use your utmost endeavours to suppress this dreadful evil wherever you can; but this you will best do by your own example, as the offence is punishable in a judicial way before a Magistrate. Nor should I mention it here, was I not sensible that I am speaking in the presence of a great number of peace-officers, whose immediate duty it is to apprehend such miscreants, and carry them before a Magistrate; and who are not only blameable, but punishable, for the neglect of this duty.

"The last offence I shall mention on this subject is, the breach of the Sabbath; a practice as shameful as it is common: but, as these are unworthy members of the Church, and not only disgraceful, but noxious members of society, they will therefore, I doubt not, meet with the detestation of all honest and pious men, and consequently with every punishment due to such an insolent crime, which it may be in your power to inflict; for this sort of impious neglect partakes of the deepest ingratitude from the creature to the Creator."

With regard to offences committed against the Publick in general; "Of these (says this diligent Magistrate) there are a great variety, but I shall confine myself to the three following, viz. public lewdness, bawdy-houses, gaming-houses. And first, as to public lewdness:

"It is the observation of a moral writer of eminence, 'That there is some degree of virtue in a man's keeping his vices to himself:' for, as example is allowed to be more efficacious than precept in recommendation of virtue, where men act as it were in opposition to the depravity of human nature, how must the open and public example of lewdness draw men into the tide of wickedness, when their own passions and inclinations serve as winds to carry them down the stream! Men like these deserve punishment as public as their crimes. But, as this offence belongs to none but the most abandoned mind, I thank God it is not common; and perhaps it would be much less seen, were those persons punished, who exposed to sale the most abandoned prints of lewdness, and the most infamous books of bawdry, which are considerably bought by curious youths, to the danger of their modesty, the hazard of their morals, and too often to the total destruction of their virtue.

"As to bawdy-houses, they are the receptacles of those who still have some sense of shame left, but not enough to preserve their innocence.

"These houses are all sufficiently injurious, and do great mischief. But those I would particularly point out to your attention, are the open, avowed, low, and common bawdy-houses, where vice is rendered cheap, and consequently within the reach of the common people, who are the very stamina of the constitution.

"These are the channels through which rottenness is conveyed into the bones of the artificer, labourer, soldier, and mariner; by this means weakness and distemper are entailed on their offspring, whose utility to the publick depends on their health and strength. These are the houses that harbour and protect undutiful children, idle servants, and disobedient apprentices. Let me then intreat you, as fathers, as masters, and as tradesmen, to put an end to these sinks of vice in your respective neighbourhoods.

"Let not that common vulgar error, of being afraid of these people, because they are litigious, desperate, and full of threats (for these fears are groundless, and should not, nay, I hope will not) deter you from this particular duty. You present; and we will punish.

"As to gaming-houses; such numbers of persons of all ranks have brought themselves, some to the greatest distresses, and others to most shameful and ignominious ends, by frequenting these houses, where gentlemen, sharpers, highwaymen, tradesmen, their servants, nay, often their apprentices, are mixed together; that, when I mention the very name of a gaming-house, I am persuaded that it conveys to your minds such ideas of mischief to society, that you will not suffer any of them to escape that come to your knowledge: and by a particular attention to the last-mentioned offences, you may be the happy means of preventing frauds, thefts, and robberies; most of which take their rise from these impure fountains of extravagance."

What the Justice, speaking of the manner of the enquiry, remarks with regard to the contempt of oaths, is but too just, and alarming:

"When I mention the word Oath; where shall I find language to express the hearty concern I feel, when I consider with what shameful insensibility this great defence of our lives, this barrier of our liberties, this security of our properties, an oath, is treated by the lower rank of the community! I too much fear, that one of the principal causes of this contempt is the slovenly manner in which this solemn obligation is administered; which does not only take off the awe, but even the very idea, of the presence of Almighty God."

A facetious writer presented the following observations to the Editor of the London Chronicle, in June 1765. I think the Reader will find they promote the object of this work.

"It is common with the old men to assert, that times alter for the worse, and that every age increases in ignorance and folly. At the Theatres, they will tell you, that Garrick and Mrs. Cibber are tolerable performers, but they will not allow them to be equal to Booth and Mrs. Oldfield. 'When I was a boy, things were otherwise,' is their common expression. Now, Mr. Printer, in despite of all this, I affirm, that instead of altering for the worse, we daily improve, not only in Commerce, but also in Manners and the Polite Arts. Think not by the Polite Arts I mean only the Exhibitions in Spring-gardens and Maiden-lane. No, Sir, my inference is a general one; I include artists of every denomination, from the genteel Mr. Pencil, the Portrait-painter, to honest Brush, the Sign-painter; both Mr. Heeltap, the Shoemaker of St. James's, and plain Crispin, the Cobler of London-house-yard. And that we only began to improve of late years, is evident from the sarcastic sneer of a shop-keeper at Epping, who, about ten years ago, had painted over his door, 'All sorts of Manchester stuffs sold here; also cardinals, nails, and hats.' The force of the witticism is too plain to need an explanation. This, I imagine, gave rise to the number of Dancing-masters, who have of late filled England; and that we are, since that time, greatly polished, no one, I dare say, will attempt to deny; but that it may not be thought that I assert what I am unable to prove, I will only remind your readers of the revolution that common things have undergone in their names. Have we now any shops? Are they not all turned into warehouses? Have we not the English warehouse, the Scotch warehouse, the Irish warehouse, the shirt warehouse, the stocking warehouse, the shoe warehouse, the hat warehouse, nay, even the buckle and button warehouse? In like manner our drinking-houses are refined: they no longer go under the vulgar denominations of gin-houses, purl-houses, ale-houses, and porter-houses, but are all turned into coffee-houses without coffee, taverns without wine, and inns without a stable-yard. Not content with this, they even left off the showy sign-post and exuberant sign, which formerly distinguished the best-accustomed houses: convinced of their own merit, they have come to a right understanding of the words simplex munditiis; and therefore only put up a black board with the name of their quondam sign upon it. But I would just hint to them, that it would be something more grammatical, if, instead of 'This is the Boar's-head,' they were to say, 'This was the Boar's-head.' Indeed I cannot help thinking, that a very great improvement might be made by one of these alehouse innkeepers on the Essex road, who has a board with a large punch-bowl painted on it, and under it these words: 'The Boar's-head Inn.' Surely he would have more custom, if (like the man at Bath, who changed his sign of the Royal Oak into that of the Owl in the Ivy-bush, and wrote under it, 'This is not the Royal Oak') he would say under his punch-bowl, 'This is not the Punch-bowl Inn.'"

The impropriety and folly of employing young and vigorous men to serve female customers with articles of dress, and those silly catch-pennies idly supposed ornaments to the person now so prevalent, is by no means a new trait in our customs; that it should be continued, though severely reprehended even so long since as 1765, is astonishing. At that time the antient sisterhood of tire-women were almost extinct; but now what head can be dressed fit to be seen without the assistance of a smart male hair-dresser? or what lady will purchase her bandeaus, her ribbands, gloves, &c. &c. from the hands of a young woman, when the same shop contains—a young man? Unfortunately this is a fatal custom to many fine blooming females, who, thus consigned to idleness and temptations, often fall victims to seduction.

A strange infatuation prevailed for many years in that class of the community which might be termed demi-fashionables, of sending their daughters to Convents in France for education; if that could be so termed, which amounted to nothing more than speaking the French language tolerably correct, cutting and pasting coloured paper together in silly shapes, and learning tambour, or working in imitation of lace. To mention the disadvantages attending the practice would be futile; the Revolution in France, the dissolution of Monasteries, and our endless wars, have totally abolished the custom, at least as far as relates to Convents; though I have no doubt that, should Peace ever again smile on us, French boarding-schools will be preferred to British.

Many of the pernicious customs which disgrace the populace of London may, and indeed must be continued, by their attendance at the various Fairs still held near the Metropolis; some that are now suppressed, and that of St. Bartholomew's London, will be noticed hereafter. As long as the Legislature think proper to permit the exhibition of wild beasts, and the anticks of human brutes, the wicked and the curious will attend them: thus the profligate receives legal authority to continue his baneful and licentious manners, and the curious innocent learns to imitate them without restraint as something very worthy of imitation. It is well known that the passions of human nature require the utmost coercion, even in families of undoubted honour and virtue: is it then prudent, much less wise, to send apprentices, youth from schools, girls the offspring of the lower classes, and servants, into these regular scenes of riot and systematic violations of order and decency, where customs must be acquired which will not bear repetition? The very tradition of the origin of Horn fair, held at Charlton and Blackheath, though ridiculously unfounded, was a sufficient cause for its abolition, when we recollect the absurd reference it had to a shocking offence against the laws of society. The frequenters of this fair went to it prepared to laugh at those injured by seduction; and the exhibition of articles made of Horn invited constant inuendos and vulgar double entendre.

Accident this very day afforded me other arguments against Fairs. Entering the Kingsland-road, I was astonished at the scene before me: the foot-paths and the carriage-way were crowded with pedestrians and vehicles, from the humble dung-cart to the hackney-coach; the two latter filled with every description of persons, and the whole rushing, impelled by one governing mind, to Edmonton fair. Hundreds of carts and waggons, provided with seats placed on the sides, and others lengthways in the midst, were stationed by the owners in the neighbourhood of Shoreditch church, where several principal streets communicate with the road to Edmonton; and were immediately filled by the infant, its sisters, brothers, parents, the journeyman, the apprentice, and the master, and the female servant, all dressed in their best clothing; many of the latter and the daughters of tradesmen in white muslin, silk spencers, and new straw bonnets, worth at least 30s. each. I would ask what the conversation of five-and-twenty persons thus assembled in a cart or waggon, some of whom consisted of the very dregs of society, could well be at noon-day, when sober; but what at night on their return, when some at least were intoxicated? We will say nothing of the fun of the Fair.

The succeeding letters which were published in 1768 require no comment.

"To the Inhabitants of the three united Parishes of St. Mary-le-Bow, St. Pancras, and Allhallows Honey-lane.

"Gentlemen,

"It is a pain and grief to me, after having been your Minister four-and-twenty years, to have any occasion to make any complaint of your behaviour; but complain of you I must, for suffering the subscription for the daily prayers to be so diminished, and reduced almost to nothing; a manifest sign that your Parishes are much poorer or less religious than they were, for either of which I should be very sorry, but more especially for the latter; for the former may be your misfortune, the latter must be your fault.

"The former Inhabitants were so convinced of the reasonableness, the propriety, the expediency, and necessity of the daily prayers, that they thought it just and fitting to make an extraordinary allowance for this extraordinary duty, and entered into a voluntary annual subscription for this purpose, which contributions have in some measure been continued from the first building and opening of your church till within these few years. And will you, Gentlemen, suffer so good a work, which hath been carried on so many years, to perish in your hands? Have you so little concern for the honour of your Church, one of the first and most conspicuous in the City, the principal of the Archbishop of Canterbury's peculiars, the chief Court of Arches, where so many Bishops are confirmed, and so much public business is transacted? And shall such a Church, that ought to be a pattern of regular devotion to others, be the first to set an example of irreligion? I hope you have too much sense of honour, too much sense of religion, to bring such a load of reproach and infamy upon your names and characters: for it would be an eternal reproach and infamy to you in this world and in the world to come; and the piety of your predecessors would 'rise up in the judgment against you, and condemn you.'

"You will say, perhaps, that you have not time to attend the daily prayers. But why have you not time? What are you doing better? Ask God and your own conscience. Scarce more than half an hour is taken up in the daily prayers: and depend upon it, you will find the time not lost, or ill employed; you will proceed to business with the greater cheerfulness, and prosper the better for it. But if you cannot or will not attend the prayers yourselves, yet why should you hinder others who would attend? Why not rather, to make some amends for your own deficiency, contribute something, that others may have opportunities for praying for a blessing upon the community? For what will avail all your care and attention, all your labour and pains, without the blessing of God to prosper them? And how can you ever expect the blessing of God upon your undertakings, if you neglect and despise, and in effect destroy and abolish his service? The neglect of public worship is soon followed by the neglect of other duties, and it behoves you seriously to consider, whether this may not be the first source and origin, the principal cause and occasion, of so many failures and bankruptcies among you.

"You will urge perhaps that other charges and taxes lie heavy upon you, the price of every thing is advanced, and you cannot afford to do as you have done. But of all charges and expences why must this of the daily prayers be the first to be retrenched? Retrench every vanity and folly, retrench every idle pleasure and diversion, retrench all your superfluous, all your unnecessary expences, rather than what you contribute to the public service of God. But no great matter is required or expected from you. As but a very short portion of your time is taken up in the daily prayers, so a very small part of your substance will be sufficient to support so pious and useful an institution. All that I desire of you is, that of the better sort, every one would subscribe ten shillings a-year, that is half a crown a quarter, and of those in lower circumstances every one would subscribe five or four shillings a year, that is, at least a shilling a quarter. Some few (to their honour be it spoken) have all along continued to do the very thing that I desire; but I wish the thing to be general, and every one of you to do the same. You cannot surely think so small and inconsiderable a sum any loss or burden to you. You may easily make it otherwise, by riding out a Sunday or two less in a year, or by going an evening or two less in a year to Vauxhall or Ranelagh, to the Tavern or the Play. This you will do, if you are not 'lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God;' and what you thus 'lend unto the Lord,' will be paid you in blessings again.

"But I would rather prefer another proposal to your consideration, which probably may be more easy and agreeable to you, as it would be taking nothing immediately out of your own pockets, and certainly would be more easy and agreeable to your Ministers, as it would be less precarious and uncertain, though perhaps not altogether so beneficial. Whatever may be the case of some few individuals, your parishes are in general very wealthy. Your poor's-rate is low in comparison to that of many other parishes, where it is nearly equal to that of the land-tax. You are in possession of several considerable estates left you by the piety and charity of former inhabitants, amounting to 300l. a year or more: and these estates being left without any appropriation but to the best uses of your parishes, how can any part of them be applied to a better use, or more agreeably to the intention of the pious and charitable donors, than for the public benefit of men in the public service of God? Let me therefore recommend it to you, out of these estates, or in any other method that you may think more proper, to allow to your Rector, that is, not to your Rector properly, but to your Rector for his Curate and Reader of the daily prayers, a salary of five-and-twenty pounds a year, which is no more than three shillings and three-half-pence in a year from every house: and surely you cannot refuse so small a boon for the honour and credit of your parishes, for your own character and reputation, for the good of your own souls and the souls of others. You see I am very moderate and reasonable in my demands, and I hope you will be as reasonable in your compliance. This is not making godliness a gain. Only the labourer is worthy of his hire: and you would not pay to a Clergyman for double service in a day, less than you would pay to a porter.

"Though I have now been your Rector, as I said, these four-and-twenty years, yet I have never in all that time asked any thing of you. I have not sent any person to collect your Easter offerings, as other City Rectors do, and I might also justly have done. I have received nothing from you but what is strictly my due, and what you are obliged by law to pay: and I shall think I have very little weight and interest with you, I shall think that either I have preached the word of God, or you have heard it, to very little purpose, if after all my services I cannot obtain this favour from you; not that it is any favour to me, but as it is a real benefit to yourselves, and may prove the happy means of your salvation. Your not complying with this request would be such a disparagement and discouragement to my ministry, that I should almost despair of ever doing any further good among you, and could only leave you to your own reflections upon that solemn commination of Christ unto the Angel of the Church of Ephesus, Rev. ii. 5: 'Remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent.' God forbid that this should ever be your case! On the contrary I wish to say with the Apostle, Heb. vi. 9, 10, 11: 'Beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous, to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed towards his name, in that ye have ministered unto the saints, and do minister. And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence, to the full assurance of hope unto the end:' And with this trust and confidence in you, I remain, Gentlemen,

"Your loving Friend, and faithful Servant in Christ Jesus,

Thomas Bristol."

March 21, 1768.

"To the Right Reverend Father in God Thomas Lord Bishop of Bristol, Rector of the Three United Parishes of St. Mary-le-Bow, St. Pancras, and Allhallows, Honey-lane.

"My Lord,

"The first sentence in your Address to our united Parishes gave us inexpressible concern, as we found ourselves charged with some behaviour which had been the occasion of great pain and grief to your Lordship; but we were happily relieved from this distress, as soon as your Lordship condescended to mention the nature of the crime with which we are charged; viz. 'That we had suffered the subscription for the daily prayers to be diminished, and reduced almost to nothing.'

"When we reflect for twenty-four years past you have laboured amongst us in the Lord, we can have no doubt but this endearing connection which has so long subsisted between us will occasion your Lordship to receive with paternal candour every plea we have to offer in our defence.

"Permit us then to remind your Lordship, that, though the attendance on the morning prayers has been generally omitted, and the subscription to them reduced, yet we have hitherto endeavoured to promote the honour and reputation of St. Mary-le-Bow, all that we could. We acknowledge with your Lordship, 'that it is one of the first and most conspicuous Churches in the City,' and we often view its lofty spire both with pride and pleasure; we are happy in 'its being the principal of the Archbishop of Canterbury's peculiars, the chief Court of Arches, where so many Bishops are confirmed, and so much public business is transacted;' and we have always endeavoured, at a great expence, to keep every part of the Church in such good order, as that it might both decently and conveniently accommodate the good company which frequently resort there on the above solemn occasions.—Surely, my Lord, this part of our conduct must convince the world, and your Lordship, that those motives which you have suggested to us have already produced every effect which ought to be expected from them.

"But to enter more particularly into our defence.—Our not attending these subscription prayers is not generally owing either to the want of time, or to the desire of saving the expence, but proceeds from a very different motive—a motive which we cannot urge, till we have again bespoke your Lordship's affectionate candour. It is this: That we are not convinced of 'the reasonableness, the propriety, the expediency, and necessity of having the daily prayers' at those hours, and under those circumstances, for which your Lordship so warmly recommends a subscription; and there are two reasons on which our doubts are founded.

"The first is, that as your Lordship has undertaken the care of our souls, and in consequence of this trust, receives at least three hundred pounds per annum, we think ourselves fully authorised to believe, that this extraordinary duty, as your Lordship properly calls it, cannot be essentially necessary to our salvation; for, if it was so, it would, and must have been, a part of your Lordship's own duty, and consequently have rendered any extraordinary allowance unnecessary: And we think ourselves assured, that the other high offices which your Lordship sustains in the Christian Church could by no means divert you from duly executing the prior engagements made with us,—even though you had been obliged to employ a Deputy to share with you the honour of attempting our salvation.

"Nor, secondly, is it possible that these services referred to should be omitted, if they were really so absolutely necessary to prevent 'the eternal reproach and infamy in this world, and the next,' of us who are committed to your care. Your Lordship, receiving 300l. per annum for watching over this flock, could never permit it to be involved in eternal infamy, when so small a boon (as your Lordship acknowledges) as 25l. per annum would prevent it. Far from us be such imaginary fears as these! The great Apostles, to whom your Lordship succeeds in an uninterrupted line, were inspired with such divine zeal to promote the salvation of men, that so far from their hesitating to part with twenty-five pounds out of three hundred pounds per annum, which is but 8l. 6s. 8d. per cent. deduction, they calmly received 'bonds and afflictions, neither counted they their lives dear unto themselves, so that they might finish their course with joy, and the ministry which they had received.' (Acts xx. 24, &c.) 'They gloried in having coveted no man's silver or gold' (neither for themselves nor their Curates); and were enabled to make this honourable appeal to their flock,—'Ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto our necessities, and to those who were with us.'

"For our part, therefore, we shall rest assured, that as 'the line of the Apostolic Succession is uninterrupted,' so also is the 'Apostolic Zeal;' and that, 'as the labourer is worthy of his hire,' so also is 'the hire worthy of a labourer;' and therefore we hope your Lordship will permit us to conclude, that when a wise, a learned, and pious Minister of Christ receives the hire, he will conscientiously perform the labour, or cause it to be performed.

"Our dependance, therefore, on your Lordship's exact and devout views of this awful and responsible connection must necessarily calm every fear on our part concerning our own 'eternal infamy and reproach on this account;' for we are legally committed to your care, for the established outward means of grace;—and such means as are absolutely necessary for rendering your Lordship a good Shepherd, or us a well-fed flock, we are very confident we shall never want, whilst we have the pleasure of being under your spiritual guidance and instruction.

"We are, my Lord, your Lordship's

"Most respectful, affectionate,

"and obliged humble servants,

A B C D E F G."

St. Mary-le-Bow, April 12, 1768.

When the King of Denmark visited our Court in 1768, he observed the eagerness of the middle and lower ranks in their attempts to view his person; and politely ordered that they should be admitted while he dined. The consequent press and rudeness was such, that the permission was rescinded after one trial: that rudeness may be estimated by the following paragraph: "A correspondent observes, in the London Chronicle, that the crowds which follow after and so rudely press upon the King of Denmark, render his situation very disagreeable, as he is constantly obstructed in the gratification of his curiosity at any public place of diversion, or of seeing any thing curious in or near the Metropolis, for fear of being stifled. He adds, that he wishes the people would consider the great rudeness they are guilty of, by thus treating so very high and respectable a Personage: and let all who have once had a view of him in any public place pass on, and not stand staring in the King's face with such intolerable effrontery as too many have done, to the annoyance of his Majesty, as well as the hindrance of others from the pleasure of seeing him."

The hospitality with which this Prince was received by the superior ranks and all the public bodies, particularly the Corporation of London, deserves the highest commendation.

The practice of Betting is tolerably prevalent at present, and by no means confined to any particular class of the community. In short, I am afraid it might be traced very far back in the history of our customs; but it will be sufficient for the information of the reader, that I present him with an article from the London Chronicle for 1768, which I think will remind him of some recent transactions in the City.

"The introduction and amazing progress of illicit gaming at Lloyd's Coffee-house is, among others, a powerful and very melancholy proof of the degeneracy of the times. It is astonishing that this practice was begun, and has been hitherto carried on, by the matchless effrontery and impudence of one man. It is equally so, that he has met with so much encouragement from many of the principal Under-writers, who are, in every other respect, useful members of society: and it is owing to the lenity of our laws, and want of spirit in the present administration, that this pernicious practice has not hitherto been suppressed. Though gaming in any degree (except what is warranted by law) is perverting the original and useful design of that Coffee-house, it may in some measure be excusable to speculate on the following subjects:

"Mr. Wilkes being elected Member for London, which was done from 5 to 50 guineas per cent.

"Ditto for Middlesex, from 20 to 70 guineas per cent.

"Alderman B——d's life for one year, now doing at 7 per cent.

"On Sir J—— H—— being turned out in one year, now doing at 20 guineas per cent.

"On John Wilkes's life for one year, now doing at 5 per cent.—N. B. Warranted to remain in prison during that period.

"On a declaration of war with France or Spain in one year, 8 guineas per cent.

"And many other innocent things of that kind.

"But when policies come to be opened on two of the first Peers in Britain losing their heads within a year, at 10s. 6d. per cent. and on the dissolution of the present Parliament within one year, at 5 guineas per cent. which are now actually doing, and underwrote, chiefly by Scotsmen, at the above Coffee-house; it is surely high time for Administration to interfere, and by exerting the rigour of the laws against the authors and encouragers of such insurances (which must be done for some bad purpose) effectually put a stop to it."

There are certain wags who find great amusement in contriving wonderful stories for the publick, which are sometimes circulated verbally, and frequently inserted in the newspapers.—This waggery has recently received the elegant term of hoaxing. Twice very lately crowds have been sent to the ship-yards below London to witness the launching of men of war and Indiamen which were not ready to launch; and last winter re-produced an old story of a gardener digging a pit to receive the body of a servant he had seduced, whom he intended to have murdered, had not his master luckily discovered the plan by the intervention of a dream. Many of these inventions are so slightly contrived that persons of very little sagacity might detect the impostor; and yet numbers are deceived.

The newspapers of 1772 furnish a rare instance of this description, which take verbatim:

"At the house of one Mrs. Goulding, a single gentlewoman, at Stockwell, in the parish of Lambeth, in Surrey, about eleven o'clock in the forenoon on Monday last, there being no person except herself and servant (Ann Robinson, aged fifteen years or thereabouts) several earthen plates, and one dish, of what is called the Queen's-ware, which were placed on a shelf in one of the kitchens, fell down, and all broke except the dish, without any visible cause; in a little time after, several candlesticks, and other things, the furniture of a mantle-piece in the back kitchen, were thrown into the middle of the floor, though no person was in that room; then some china, &c. on the mantle-piece in the other kitchen was in like manner thrown into the middle of the floor, and broke, and as the pieces lay, they snapped and flew just as though they had been thrown on an exceeding hot fire; a glazed lanthorn, which hung on the staircase, was thrown down; a clock also was thrown down and broke; a red earthen pan, containing salt beef, flew in pieces, and the beef fell about; and many such like uncommon things happened; which causing an alarm, the people from the road, without distinction, ran into the house, some supposing it to be on fire, others thought the house had received a shock from the explosion of a powder-mill at Hounslow, which was blown up about an hour before. However, all concurred in moving the goods; and Mrs. Goulding, together with her maid-servant, went to Mr. Gresham's, a gentleman who lives in the next house to Mrs. Goulding's, whither the goods were carried, and particularly a tray full of china, an iron bread-basket japanned, two mahogany waiters, several bottles of different sorts of liquors, a gallipot of jelly, and a pier-glass worth about five pounds, which glass was taken down by one Mr. Saville (a neighbour to Mrs. Goulding) who handed it to one Robert Hames, and a part of the gilt-work on each side of the frame flew off before he could put it down in the garden; but when it was laid down, remained without farther damage till it was taken into Mr. Gresham's, and put under a side-board, where it flew to pieces. Mr. Saville and others going to drink of a bottle of rum and a bottle of wine, they both flew in pieces, though they were uncorked; the china in the tray flew in pieces, some while it was in the house, and the rest in the garden, whither it was removed by the affrighted spectators after it began to break; the bread-basket was thrown down and broke, as also were the two mahogany waiters, and the pot of jelly, together with bottles of liquors and jars of pickles, all of them the property of Mrs. Goulding. Mrs Goulding, being ill with the fright, was let blood by Mr. Gardener, a Surgeon of Clapham, who borrowed a pint china bowl of Mr. Gresham's people to receive the blood, which being afterwards set upon a side-board, near a bottle of rum, the property of Mrs. Goulding, both bottle and bowl jumped on the floor and broke, the bowl going into five pieces (a piece of which is now in the possession of Mr. Waterfield at the Royal Oak Inn, Vauxhall). Mrs. Goulding and her servant then went to Mr. Maylin's next door to Mr. Gresham's; but during their stay there (which was but very short) nothing extraordinary happened; from thence they went to the house of Farmer Payne (to whose wife Mrs. Goulding is related) on Rush-common, near the Wash-way, about half a mile distant from her own house, where they found Mr. and Miss Gresham, Mr. Payne and his family; it being about dinner-time, they all dined with Mr. Payne; some time after dinner Mrs. Goulding's servant was sent home to examine into the state of the house, and returned with an account that every thing there had been quiet from the time they left it. In a little time after the return of the servant, Mr. and Miss Gresham went home (nothing unaccountable having yet happened at Mr. Payne's); but Mrs. Goulding and her servant staid, and about seven o'clock in the evening the same kind of uncommon operations as had been seen at Mrs. Goulding's began at Mr. Payne's, by seven pewter dishes out of eight falling from the top shelf over a dresser in the kitchen, without any apparent cause, which was followed by an infinite number of examples not less strange, and particularly the following: a pestle and mortar jumped from the mantle-piece in the kitchen to the floor, about six feet; a row of pewter plates fell from the second shelf (over the dresser) to the ground, and being taken up, and put one in the other on the dresser, which is about three feet high, they were thrown down again, and lay in the same manner as plates are generally placed on a shelf; the pewter, china, earthen-ware, &c. were then almost all set upon the floors in the kitchen and parlour (to prevent being broke or bruised by falling), but four pewter plates were left on one of the shelves over the dresser, which plates did not move the whole night. While the things were putting on the ground, a stone tea-cup jumped out of a beaufet to the floor; on the floor a glass tumbler jumped about a foot and a half and broke; another that stood near it jumped also about the same distance, but remained whole for some hours after, then took another spring and broke also; a china bowl jumped from the floor in the middle of the parlour, and went behind the feet of a claw table, which was standing in the same parlour, at the distance of about eight feet, but did not break at that time, but being replaced by one Mr. Fowler, remained whole for a considerable time afterwards, and then flew to pieces; three china cups, which had been left on the dresser in the kitchen, flew slant-wise across the kitchen about twelve feet, by which two were broke: an egg flew from the lower shelf over the dresser, taking the same direction as the cups had done, and went nearly the same distance; there was another egg on the shelf, which did not move the whole night: a candlestick flew from the mantle-piece in the kitchen into the parlour door-way, about fifteen feet from the place where it stood; a tea-kettle under the dresser was thrown out about two feet: another tea-kettle, which stood on the side of the grate, was thrown off against an iron that is fixed to keep the children from the fire; a mustard-glass, which was a little broke by some natural accident, was thrown from a table into a pewter-dish on the floor, at about seven feet distance, but did not break, neither was it broke afterwards; the cup that had escaped when the other two were broke (as is before-mentioned) being set on a table in the parlour, flew off to the distance of nine feet, and broke; a tumbler, with a little rum and water in it, standing on a waiter upon a table in the same parlour, jumped about ten feet, and broke; the table then overset, and threw off a silver tankard of Mrs. Goulding's, a candlestick, and the waiter the tumbler had jumped from; two hams, which had been hung up in the chimney to dry, fell down, though the nail and strings on and by which they had hung were not broke or misplaced; a case-bottle of liquor, part of which they had just drank, flew into pieces; and, in short, about four o'clock in the morning of Tuesday, almost every thing in the parlour and kitchen were animated, and made such a racket, that Mr. Payne's maid-servant ran up stairs, and took a child out of bed, and carried it into the stable naked, thinking it was not safe longer to stay in the house. Mrs. Goulding then seeing the general confusion, went with her servant across the road to Mr. Fowler's (the same Mr. Fowler as is before-mentioned in this narrative) and were accompanied by Mrs. Payne and her son, about nine years of age; and the confusion at Mr. Payne's immediately ceased, when Mr. Fowler had let them into his house, he proceeded to light a fire in his back room, which done, he put the candlestick and candle he had used upon a table in his fore-room (through which Mrs. Goulding and her servant had passed), where also stood another candlestick with a tin lamp in it, but they did not stand long before they were knocked against each other, and thrown to the ground by some invisible agent; then a lanthorn in the back-room, that had been used in lighting Mrs. Goulding, &c. across the road, was thrown to the ground; and lastly a basket of coals, which was brought from Mr. Payne's, overset, and emptied itself upon the floor. Mr. Fowler upon this told Mrs. Goulding he feared she had been guilty of some bad act, as it was plain the cause of such wonderful events was carried with her; but Mrs. Goulding answered, that her conscience was clear from any extraordinary evil, and that she could not tell the cause why she was so troubled, or such like words; however, Mr. Fowler desired her to quit his house, as he could not afford to have his goods destroyed; whereupon Mrs. Goulding and her servant left his house, which has been quiet ever since, and returned to her own house; and, in a little time after their arrival, a cask with some beer in it was thrown from its stand, and a pail of water was moved from its place a little, and some of the water spilled, but nothing more happened; then she discharged her servant, and has remained quiet ever since."