VIEW FROM WESTMINSTER bridge. 25

the south side of Hyde Park, and is continued under the successive names of Piccadilly, St. James's-street, Pall-Mall, Charingcross, Strand, Fleet-street, Ludgate-hill, St. Paul's Church-yard, Watling-street, Cannon-street, and Tower-street, to the Tower of London, and thence two miles by the river-side, through Wapping. These lines of streets very much facilitate the stranger in finding his way, with the use of a pocket map, to any part of the town.

BEST VIEW OF THE CAPITAL.

The finest and fullest view of London, in my opinion, is to be obtained from Westminster-bridge, from whence the magnificent river, animated by a variety of large and small craft, the stately spires; buildings to which a dense atmosphere prevents the eye from seeing any termination; the solemn abbey, and the sublime dome of St. Paul's, present a spectacle which puts all verbal description at defiance.

One circumstance soon excited my ob servation; that, upon a comparison, the beggars of London are less in number than those of Dublin, that they are neither so squalid in their appearance, nor so importunate in their manner; nor are they, as in the latter city, so generally spread over every part of the town; they are also better dressed, for they say our mendicants purchase their cast-off cloaths, which are regularly sent over to Holland for sale amongst them. But, however, to the honor of Dublin, and of Ireland altogether, be it said, that in the streets of London I have heard nothing of that wit, drollery, naievetè, and emphatic use of figurative speech, which it is impossible to walk in Dublin for half an hour without hear ing.

The lower orders in England, I am well informed, exhibit but little of those animated and naturally eloquent expressions

INCREASE OF LONDON.

97

which distinguish our countrymen, unless they are exasperated; for example:-I heard two women of the town quarrelling last night, and one said to the other, whose complexion and features were singularly rubicund and frightful," Your face is a blaze of horror; you look like God's reyenge against murder."

INCREASE OF LONDON.

gurwig After having informed you of the vast and encreasing magnitude of London, you will naturally ask whether the capital is not spreading itself at the expence of the country towns. This is far from being the case, for I hear from various quarters, that the spirit of emulation and acquisition, and the rage for building, are, upon com parison, pretty nearly as great in the country towns as in the capital.

THE CAUSE OF INCREASE.

I apprehend the cause may be traced as much to its being resorted to by the

28

THE CAUSE OF INCREASE.

great number of families who are continually coming over from the East and West Indies, and settle in it, as to the increase of population; and the extraordinary influx of wealth, and consequently of luxury and voluptuousness. The great magnet, fashion, has also attracted the principal commercial families, from the east to the west end of the town, whilst their city houses are given up to their clerks and agents. It is the custom with many to consider this country as little more than commercial; this is far from being the fact. The French might as well call this a nation of farmers as of shopkeepers; for the wealth which has been raised by agriculture is immense.

If a fortune has been created by, or devolved to a person, in the country, such a one is immediately disposed to have a town-house; and it is a well-known fact, that the merchants, the higher tradesmen, and civilians in the city, consider their houses there as mere offices and chambers

for their agents and clerks; and when the