the streets were soon covered with liquid mud, while the whole tribe of blue boars, red lions, and goats in boots collected and discharged the water in one heavy, pitiless stream. Then it was that "taking the wall" was a deed of hardihood, which only strength and courage could maintain; and, while the robust kept close to the shelter of the numerous penthouse lids, the weak were elbowed out into the full brunt of the storm.

But the natural evils of rain, mud, and dust were not the worst to be encountered in walking about the metropolis. Pickpockets had become wonderfully numerous, so that whether at church or market, the theater or the ball-room, purses, snuff-boxes, and watches disappeared with a facility incomprehensible to the owners. Even articles attached more closely to the person were not secure, and the gallant who presented his hand to a lady, to prevent her from stumbling, sometimes found, when too late, that a brilliant had departed from his finger. Occasionally, too, a skillful rogue carried a covered basket on his head, in which a boy was concealed; he passed through some crowd where something had been provided to be stared at-and the best periwig in the throng would vanish as suddenly as if it had gone to keep company with Berenice's hair. The squares of London were infested with throngs of beggars, who assailed the ears of the passers-by in every tone of clamorous supplication, and shocked their eyes with the exhibition of every disgusting malady that flesh is heir to. But frequently these wretches were also thieves; and thus the cripple, who had begged all day, converted his crutch into a truncheon at night, with which he knocked his victims on the head. This was especially the case in the lonely square of Lincoln's Inn Fields, which at this period was a haunt of the most desperate characters, especially during the hours of darkness. If the pedestrian, eschewing these perils, hoped to escape them by a coach, the matter was not much mended: the streets of London were so narrow and the obstacles so numerous, that the whole tide of drays and carriages was frequently brought to a dead-lock, by some sudden impediment; in such cases, the coachmen, instead of extricating themselves by winding through the mass, or waiting patiently till motion was restored, would begin to lash each other with their whips, or descend from their boxes for a regular trial at bruising, while the delighted crowd formed a ring, and cheered the combatants. Sometimes, too, when part of a street was undergoing repair, the lamp that marked the dangerous spot at night would be extinguished by design or accident; and thus the carriage was shattered in pieces against the pile of stones, or thrown headlong into the excavation. In our own day, when the splendor of gas has reduced the moon and stars to mere rural conveniences, we are astonished at the Cimmerian darkness in which our great grandsires were content to wander. In the year 1736, London could boast of no more than about a thousand lamps, which were kept burning only till midnight, and that for only one half of the year; during the other half (that is from Lady-day till Michaelmas) they

in the very worst place for such an accident to hap pen; and, while the bedarkened citizen was anxiously endeavoring to peer out amid the surrounding gloom, he found himself suddenly environed, and, perhaps, knocked down by the ruffianly ambush into which he had been so treacherously conducted.' Sedans were used to a great extent at this period, not only by ladies and effeminate beaux, but also by robust men; the bearers, who were generally Irishmen, derived from the nature of their occupation a thickness of leg and strength of calf that became proverbial; and the conveyance itself was a cheap one, as a chair, with its bearers, could be hired for a guinea a-week, or a shilling an hour. Water conveyance also was much used in passing from one part of London to another; and a person would be rowed anywhere above the bridge to Westminster, in a boat with two rowers, for sixpeuce, and with one for threepence; and below the bridge, to the lower extremity of the city, for the same sum. In sailing down the river, people of whatever rank had to encounter a broadside of coarse raillery from every passing boat. Such moderate fares encouraged among the citizens the practice of forming water-parties; and in these aquatic trips Folly House, at Blackwall, formed the usual landing-place and house of entertainment for those whose appetites were whetted by the keen air of the river.

In turning to those amusements that particularly illustrate the character of the period, the wateringplaces may be first mentioned. Medicinal springs had long been known; the diseased, the hypochon2 Macky's Journey through England.

1 Gay's Trivia.

driacal, and the idle had flocked to them; and, as the healing waters increased in reputation, it became fashionable during this period to spend the summer season in their neighborhood, where, as a matter of course, parties, balls, and festivals, were frequent among an idle population. Bath had for many years been one of the chief of these places of resort; and under the able management of Beau Nash, popularly called the King of Bath, it was now enabled to throw all other watering-places into the shade, so that above eight thousand families generally repaired to it in the course of a season. Two laws which Nash established, and rigorously enforced upon his subjects, tended upon the whole to make his reign a very useful one. By one, all politics were absolutely banished from Bath, so that the most fruitful source of quarrels among gentlemen was removed: by another, all scandal was prohibited, by which the ladies were reduced to an equally pacific state. Next to Bath, Tunbridge and Epsom Wells were in greatest repute. These were resorted to by the families of the wealthier inhabitants of London and the rural gentry; and an account of the manner in which time was spent at one of these places will serve as a picture of the rest. At Tunbridge. there was, on one side of the well, a row of shops and coffee-rooms, on the other a market; and behind the well was a large chapel, in which divine service was performed twice a-day. Early in the morning the company repaired to the waters, and there the ladies and gentlemen associated with each other in dishabil: at nine o'clock they separated to dress. At ten, the company again became visible, some repairing to charch and others to the coffee-houses. After prayers they promenaded on the walks, while the bands of music continued to play; they also amused

1 Life of Beau Nash.

themselves with raffling, hazard, drinking ten, and walking, till two, when it was time to repair to dinner. In the afternoon the bowling-greens wero open for those who loved that national sport; and on the same greens balls were held four times aweek, for the diversion of the young people. At night the company returned to the shops on the walks, and there all manner of play and diversion was kept up till midnight. As ceremony was greatly abated at such public and promiscuous meetings, a greater frankness toward strangers was allowed than in the metropolis, so that no gentleman needed n formal introduction to a lady at play or upon the walk; and this liberty, as might be supposed, was very frequently abused by sharpers and fortunehunters. In the sketches of the day, accordingly, a dashing Irishman in chase of an heiress at a watering-place is a very common feature. As the luxuries of Bath, Tunbridge, and Epsom were as expensive as they were fashionable, persons of moderate fortunes contented themselves with the more accessible mineral springs of Islington, to which they repaired with their families, and where they imitated, upon a humble scale, the amusements of the more aristocratic watering-places.

But the Londoners had likewise places of entertainment nearer at hand, where the foot could step at once from the dusty pavement upon a velvet lawn, or wander at will among shady avenues. Of these, Spring Garden was the chief at the close of the seventeenth century, until it was found that something more than mere walks and trees was desirable; and, accordingly, in Ranelagh and Vauxhall gardens the attractions of art were introduced to heighten the charms of nature. At these places the trees were hung with lamps, and the plats enlivened 1 Macky's Journey through England.

The pretensions of this place were at first rather aristocratic; but the company soon became sufficiently miscellaneous. Thus it appears, from Read's Journal for July 15, 1721, that the Prince and Princess of Wales dined at Belsize House, attended by several persons of quality; yet, from the satire entitled "Belsize House," published only a year after, we find that persons of the lowest description as well as the highest were the regular frequenters, while excesses prevailed among them which would have shamed the lowest house of entertainment. In fact, so rapid was the process of degeneracy, that in less than a twelve month the "twelve stout fellows completely armed" had increased to thirty, so perilous had the approaches to this precious temple of Cotytto become. The proprietor, or master of the ceremonies, generally called the Welsh Ambassador, soon also became so infamous that he was committed to Newgate; but he speedily regained his liberty, and resumed his public functions. On each side of the gate of Belsize House a grenadier mounted guard. The coffee-room was set apart for the more select customers, while the north side of the building was reserved for the common herd; but the dining-room was neutral ground into which all ranks were fused into one common mass. Besides the amusements specified in the programme, hunting and fishing were the out-of-door sports of the establishment, and balls and concerts were held in the long room; but deep and ruinous play, after all, formed the chief recreation, unless we except illicit love intrigues, for which the extensive grounds about the house afforded sufficient facilities.

Shooting-matches were also common in the outskirts of London, and the nature of these will be understood by the following advertisement from the Postman of June 7, 1713:- A stall-fed fat deer to be shot for at the Grayhound, at Islington. on Wednesday, in Whitsun-week, for half a-crown a man,

forty men to shoot, at four of the clock in the afternoon." The chief out-door sports, besides bowls and skittles, were football, which was played at by the young prentices within the porches of Covent Garden, and cricket. In this last stirring game matches were often made between equal numbers of the gentlemen of two counties, by advertisement in the public prints. The chief place in London for these competitions was the Artillery Ground.

Prize fights had now become frequent, at which the common weapons were broadsword, sword and dagger, and single stick; and the gladiators who mangled each other for the amusement of the crowd devoted themselves to this savage calling as a regular trade, and subsisted upon the subscription-purses or admittance fees. Many of these fellows were also accustomed to ramble about the country, like knight-errants in quest of adventures, and sound their challenges to combat in every village. The following short sketch sufficiently describes the nature of a prize-fight: Seats filled and crowded by two, drums beat, dogs yelp, butchers and footsoldiers clatter their sticks; at last the two heroes, in their fine-bosomed Holland shirts, mount the stage about three-cut large collops out of one another to divert the mob, and make work for the surgeons; smoking, swearing, drinking, thrusting, justling, elbowing, sweating, kicking, cuffing, stinking, all the while the company stays." The writer adds that even the ladies attended such exhibitions, and viewed them with keen interest. The most distinguished of these bullies was Figg, whose face and figure have been familiarized to us by Hogarth in one of the sketches of the Rake's Progress. This personage taught the "noble science of defense" in Oxford-street road, near the Adam and Eve court, 1 Gay's Trivia.

2 Works of Thomas Brown, vol. i., p. 151. London, 1744.