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The architectural improvements of this century, which, during its first sixty years, chiefly centered in the city and liberty of Westminster, were no longer desultory and capricious, but, from the cause that we have already mentioned, viz. the stability of government, became regular and progressive. It will be remembered, that the ideas of our ances tors with respect to metropolitan improvement, were most sensibly and properly turned rather to extension than demolition. Instead of levelling with the earth, perhaps never to rise again, a number of beautiful and expensivelyerected fabrics, and convenient, genteel, and commercial dwellings, and forming "an idle void, "they erected new churches, and planned new parishes.* We do not say that those churches that were completed of the fifty that were intended to be built were not what may be denominated JOBS, and that, in several instances, public property was not sacrificed to private emolument; we know

the case to be otherwise.+ But still, leaving the cupidity of individuals out of the question, and only looking to the general effect of those fabrics that rose in consequence of the act, we have always, both in pious and picturesque points of view, considered them as ornaments to the metropolis.

In other respects, civic improvement was not, perhaps, so properly attended to as it has been of late years: in fact, the people of those times had all the inclination in the world, as Sterne says, to contribute to the beauty of the city, but they had most unfortunately mistaken the mode of doing it. They

With respect to the new churches, it is supposed, that the idea of erecting them arose from a charge against the WHIGS, circulated with great industry over the country, in which it was insinuated by the TORIES, that the former intended either to pull down the churches, or form them into meetinghouses. Of this Addison has made most admirable use, in his character of the TORY FOXHUNTER, who, when he comes to town, mistakes the building for the demolition of the new church in the Strand.

+ As an instance, Christ Church, Middle sex, is supposed to contain more STONE than would have been necessary to have erected two fabrics of the same size. We naturally inquired the reason that could have occasioned such a waste of so expensive a material, and icarned, without much surprise, that the brother of the architect was

mason.

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enclosed the shops in the public streets, and added to the internal comfort, as well as to the external appearance, of those objects; but then, resolved still more to distinguish them, they encumbered the footway with what might fre quently be termed pillars, and impeded the circulation of air by the exhibition of SIGNS, which were very commonly so absurd, that, while they attracted the eyes, they often betrayed the feet of the unwary passenger, and caused him to run his nose against their own, or to stumble over contiguous posts, into the wide-expanded kennel. These nuisances were about the year 1762 removed. The signs, diminished in their size, were placed against the houses, the posts taken away, and the streets new paved. It is not necessary to be more particular with

To speculate upon signs after the Spectator would be a task which we have not the temerity to undertake. We shall, therefore,

only very generally observe, that biking,

as well as himself, to see "what was done over our heads," we have frequently marked their enormities. The Dog's Head in the Porridge-pot, in Holborn, and the Cat in Pattens, near Cloth-fair, very early caught our attention: but these, and many other devices equally ingenious, it will be observed, arose after the Restoration: before that period, the signs of London were not painted, but cut in stone; though this fashion, we have remarked, continued a few years after that event. Of these many instances may still be seen; as the Upholders" Arms, the Cutlers' Arms, and the Sun (1668), Poultry; and the Seven Stars, the Halfmoon, and the Maiden's Head, in Cheapside, and also in other places, where they are preserved, and worked into the brick fronts of the houses. In these square exhibitions wit was not aimed at; perhaps the sober citizens of those times had no idea of sculpturing a conceit, or rendering a pes perennial. Before that period, the outside of the houses of the principal streets of Lordon were either historically or grotesquely painted, and the sign formed a part of the subject. Thus legendary saints and captive Saracens were frequently depicted on walls, and the badges of the nobility blazoned upes the dwellings of their adherents. The BLACK Prince, intended to compliment the hero of Cressy and Poictiers, painted on many houses, was, we believe, in the course of tune, transformed into an African. It was once svg. gested to us, by a very ingenious speculator on this subject, that the devices on the boa-es in London were, like those in many cities abroad, political, and took their metaphor ed conceit from the temper of the times and the party of the proprietors.

respect to these alterations. Many may yet remember, that their effects were, to give to our streets a new character, to produce a freer circulation of air, and to insure the safety of passengers, either in carriages, on horseback, or on foot, in a much higher degree than had ever before been known.

As another species of improvement, it may not here be improper, for the last time, slightly to contemplate the state of domestic society in the metropolis during the first sixty years of the last century, in the latter period of which the manners of the people are too much within the scope of living memory to need any elucidation from us.

From the time of the Revolution, we have already stated that a far greater correctness of conduct had taken place than had prevailed during the libidinous reign of Charles II. and although the fondness for taverns, and indeed a tavern life, which distinguished that period, had not entirely receded from the minds of many, yet the indiscriminate mixture of good and bad company that had resorted to those places was no longer tolerated. Women of virtue, even in visor masks, began gradually to shrink from the contamination of the society of tavern-haunters; while those of another description more closely, if possible, assimilated with them. Yet we conceive that there were other places equally dangerous to morals and reputation, and which differed only in name, that still were frequented by virtuous women, or, rather, by women pretending to be virtuous. A few of these were, the Spring-gardens, the Mulberry-gardens, the World's End, at Chelsea, the French gardens, Mary-le-bone, Cuper'sgardens, Jenny's Whim, several French houses, viz. one in Lambeth-marsh, two or three in the parish of St. James, one in Leicester-fields, one at Tottenham-court, and the most ancient, which was afterward termed the French Change, -near Greek-street, Soho, for evening, and Indian houses for morning amusement. The Ring in Hyde-park still continued the rendezvous for the fashionable world in carriages; and, as we find by Wycherley's comedy of " Love in a Wood, or, St. James's Park," the Birdcage-walk for those that night with propriety be termed night-walkers. The New Exchange, when illuminated in a winter's evening, used also to be a fashionable place of resort. Clubs (which,

perhaps, arose upon the downfal of the ancient ordinaries) became, it would appear, indispensably necessary. Almost every street possessed its tavern, and every tavern owed, in a great measure, its existence to one or more clubs. With respect to these meetings, whether sprightly, humdrum, ugly, great, little, serious, convivial, hebdomadal, or everlasting; whether composed of traders, gamesters, players, men of honour, lawyers, physicians, politicians, wits, or wags; the Spectator, and other pe riodical papers, have so thoroughly investigated the subject, that it is unnecessary for us to add to those observations upon it more than our conclusion, namely, that it was past the meridian of the last century ere what may be termed a domestic life was adopted by our metropolitan predecessors. Desultory in their ideas, and dissipated in their pursuits, they seem, in their wide-extended chase of the phantom which they falsely termed Pleasure, to have sought that happiness which experience should have taught them was only to be found at home. In the carly part of that period, politics and the ebullitions of election effervescence were the rage; when these subsided, theatrical contentions became the reigning foible of the times; and the disputes for histrionic pre-eminence betwixt GARRICK and BARRY* caused

It is, now they have elapsed, astonishing to consider what trifles have, at former periods, for we would by no means he supposed to allude to the passing hour (indeed we cannot in this, because we think the salaries of our OPERA SINGERS, for instance, no trifles at present, but enough to make many men, and women too, serious); yet it is astonishing, we repeat, to reflect, what trifles, formerly, agitated the public mind. The dis pute whether GARRICK OF BARRY was the best ROMEO was carried on with a fierceness that agitated, nay, we may say, couvulsed, the whole town, and was conducted with an asperity which, on many occasions, burst into abuse and scurrility. Squibs and paragraphs appeared in the public prints every day and although most of these were only remarkable for their dullness, a very few were animated with wit, or expanded into humour. Of these the following epigram, which has before been incorrectly given, is one example:

"What play's to-night?" cries angry Ned, As from his bed he rouses,

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year 1720; a period when, as the port says,

"the cursed South-sea scheme

Cheated the nation with a golden dream,” and gave rise to various constellations of those kinds of BUBBLES that we have, in some few instances, already noticed, but respecting which, as they shew a whole people absorbed in, and operated upon by the vile passion of avarice, and consequently form a grand metrepolitan feature of those times, we shall, ere we conclude, though briefly, still fur ther expatiate.

The bubbles which floated in our civic atmosphere in the memorable year 1720, we take to have arisen from the same passion which produced those monopolies that disgraced the reigns of Elzabeth, James, and the first Charles. In those days, the expansion of commerce caused wealth to flow from numerous sources into this kingdom, till at length acquisition awakened cupidity. The spirit of adventure, spurning the nar row, the systematical, yet regular, returns of mercantile profit, seemed to rove at large, and to possess the minds of a very great proportion of our civic ancestors. The first idea of its votaries was that of satiating the avarice of the OLD WORLD With the plunder of the NEW; but this, when reduced to practice, though fortunate in some instances, was so unsuccessful in others, that the golden dreams, the ideal el dorados, upon which they had contemplated, at length vanished from the mental grasp of the visionary speculators: but still the passion from which they had arisen, although repressed, was not annihilated: in fact, the rage of accumula tion was only turned into other chapnels, and, as every man wished to take care of himself, schemes were set on foot for the monopoly of a variety of old articles of necessity, and plans preposed for the invention of new.

The improving state of our manufactures gave a colourable pretence to the applications for PATENTS. The ministers of Elizabeth, who were never supposed to have wanted sagacity, were yet, very frequently, in want of money, and it was most impolitically judged to be an easy way to raise it by selling to a set of needy, or greedy, adventurers, who could procure the means to purchase them, licenses to ter the people ad libitum, and, by their nefa

rious operations, to restrain the free course of commerce. To enumerate a tenth part of the PATENTS granted in those, and the times immediately subsequent, would far exceed the limits of our few remaining columns; it may be sufficient to re-state, that they were found, at length, so enormous, as to render a repeal of them absolutely neces

sary.

During the Interregnum, the passion of avarice appeared in other forms, and the plunder of the property of the clerical and the lay loyalists, in consequence of the national abandonment of every tie, moral, religious, or humane, afforded a golden harvest to schemers and speculators of every description.

Turned to other pursuits, particularly to the revival of our languishing trade, the ardency of the people for irregular acquisition seems to have glowed but little in the reign of CHARLES II. After the Revolution it began again to kindle; and, on the stability which government acquired by the accession of the house of Brunswick, it burst into a flame. Yet it is to be lamented, that the SUN which fostered the flourishing plants of commerce, also gave existence to reptiles who endeavoured to destroy their roots.

From the South-land the greatest evils had, for a long series of years, devolved on this country; and it was now decreed, that from the SOUTH SEA misfortunes should arise which, though in their existence more temporary, should, in their effects, be nearly as destructive, The BUBBLES which arose from the SOUTH SEA SCHEME, absurd, incomprehensible, and, in their progress, in many instances, impracticable, designed by fraud, supported by FOLLY, and, consequently, concluding in disappointment and distress, would not, perhaps, have been further noticed than they have already been in the preceding pages of these speculations, had we not discerned, that the passion which gave rise to them is again operating in this metropolis, and, in a variety of forms, again endeavouring to impose upon the credulity of the people. We shall not here enumerate the vast assemblage of BUBBLES that are at present exhibiting their evanescent forms to the public eye, and endeavouring, through the medium of the press, to attract the attention of the multitude; still less are we inclined to mention those which are yet in embrio,

Italy.

though their names have, as a stimulus to many persons who have more money than sense, been occasionally hinted in the public prints; but we certainly, from patriotic principles, wish to guard our readers against the deception and immorality of most of those schemes which artful men have set afloat, with a view to turn the spirit of gambling, always too predominant in this kingdom, to their own advantage, and so to make the madness of many contribute to the gain of a few.

In this country, and in our metropolis, where a number of the commercial, manufacturing, and other establishments can only be supported by immense capitals, partnerships are absolutely ne cessary; and, so adverse are we to MONOPOLIES, that we think opposition, to a certain degree, useful; therefore we unquestionably can have no objection to seeing several names in the FIRMS of our large manufacturing and commercial houses, nor a number of those firms engaged in the same pursuit, and, by bettering and increasing the commodities, fairly opposing each other. The risk and responsibility of these partnerships we know to be great, therefore their advantages should be adequate; but when we observe opposi tions created not by other firms of capitalists, arising and taking upon theinselves a far greater risk, and exposing themselves to a far greater responsibility, (which must be the case in every new enterprise), but by coMPANIES of rapacious adventurers with little property and no judgment, we tremble for the commercial concerns of the country.

Let an establishment be ever so extensive, let the capitals of the partners be ever so large, it is still liable to be annihilated by combinations; perhaps we should have said CONSPIRACIES.* No

* The incorporation of a large number of persons into trading societies was most wisely prohibited by the statute 6th Geo. III. c. 19, which was passed at a very critical period, and intended to counteract the effects of many of the evils that hed already taken place, and avert others that were impending, from trading societies, speculations, and a number of other bubbles then in circulation,

some of which descended so low as to pick the pockets of the unwary of CROWNS, by a piece of playing card exhibiting a red seal, and intimating that for this small premium the bearer would be entitled to a share in a most advantageous unde tokig, that would scon be announced!

trade in this country can, we will venture to assert, stand against associations of fifty pound subscribers; nor can the capital of any legal firm bear up against the accumulated opposition of fifty pound shares.

In the present general diffusion of property, these societies are ten times more dangerous to trade than they were in the years 1719 and 1720, as the holders of fifty pound shares may be ten times more numerous; but it is not even to this value that shares are confined, for we have already observed in some speculations they are much lower, and we should not much wonder if the subscribers to some future SPIRIT, BEER, ALE, OF WATER SOCIETIES, or to some future VULTURE, HAWKE, RAVEN, BUZZAND, WHEATSHEAF, CINDER, OF TURNIP

COMPANIES got in for FIVE POUNDS, or indeed for FIVE SHILLINGS, each. The injury to trade, and consequently to the revenue of the country, from these BUBBLES may, as we have observed, be immense, therefore they ought to be repressed with all possible celerity; in the mean time, the adventurers who have any thing to lose should be told, that the injury which they and their families may suffer is equal; for if the bubbles which they are pursuing should burst, which many of them most certainly will, though their subscriptions are small, they will find their responsibility large; for although those ingenious persons, who formed the deceptive plans, and received the real instalinents, will contrive to get out of the scrape, the simple subscribers will be liable, jointly and separately, to answer for all the nominal losses that may be said to have cusued; in short, they will be left upon a single plank floating in the wide occan of speculation, while the authors of their ruin stand secure on the shore and laugh at their distress.

CONCLUSION.

Being of opinion that we could not finish our Vestiges, which we have continued through the very long period of SIXTY-FOUR MONTAS, better than by leaving a warning to our compatriots upon a subject connected with the honor, the dignity, and the interest of the city of London, and consequently of the whole kingdom, we have sketched the preceding desultory hints, which we shall probably expand in another form in s me future publication. We have, erefore, at the present awful moment (and, without affectation, the moment

of taking leave is, upon all occasions, awful), to thank our readers for the fa vourable reception which these our eudeavours to contribute in a small degree to their information and amusement have experienced; and to congratulate ourselves that we have, though not in the manner that we could perhaps have fully wished, fulfilled our engagements with the public, and completed our at duous task. Of our Hibernian, northern, and metropolitan brethren, who, we are informed, have done us the honour to borrow from our work, we shall de. mand no repayment, for we here most solemnly promise never to borrow a line from any of their effusions.

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Zodiac.

YREAT as the name of SerpentaTrius is in the scientific world, and ardent as my desire to see him has been, I had yet a desire still more ardent: therefore I found it impossible to wat dinuer for him longer than I did.

Capt. Pendant. Dinner is to him a very subordinate consideration. I have known him, when in Egypt, fast, by choice, more than the French soldiers did from necessity. Absorbed in some abstruse speculation, I dare say he has forgotten his engagement.

Mundic. Though my speculations are equally abstruse, four o'clock and the smell of roast beef always attract me from them.

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