YK1062165 Ex Ltbrii C. K. OGDEN Political and Moral Refactions DURING TWELVE RAMBLES IN LONDON, ADDRESSED TO THE f, ana ENGLISHMEN. BY AMICUS PATRICE. " Oh, my poor country!" Mr. PITT'S dying Exclamation. Printed by W. Lewis, Paternoster-row : FOR THE AUTHOR, AND PUBLISHED BT SHERWOOD, NEELY, AND JONES, PATERXOJ- TER-RO W ; G. JOHNSON, 101 , CHEAPSIDE ; W. WOODHAM, 84,HOLBORN ; AND T. LANGDOV, 5HERBORNB, 1810. TO THE READER. IF a perusal of the following ram- bles should impart any degree of satisfaction, it is more than the ram- bler was enabled to acquire, from his peregrinations ; during which, he un- fortunately discovered too tnuch, to shock his feelings and to excite his commisseration for a sinking coun- try, to admit of pleasurable sensa- tions. From comparatively trivial ob- jects, he has endeavoured to elicit some serious reflections, of national importance ; if their colouring ap- pear too sombre, every thinking man and well-wisher to his country -4 (' "~ F*" ir PREFACE. must candidly allow, whateverpain the confession may occasion, that it is too faithfully painted by the hand of truth. Where there is no danger, it is cowardice to awaken false fears ; but when real danger exists, it is true courage to encounter that dan- ger, with an unshrinking form, and to measure the enemy, whether foreign or intestine, from head to foot, with a prudence, that may direct the most fatal blow. London , January 1810. RAMBLES IN LONDON. No. I. ST. PAULS. HAVING but very recently arrived in the metropolis, for the first time, and being anxious, of course, as persons from the country most generally are, to view its cu- riosities, my steps, on my arrival, were di- rected, by a sort of fatality, to St. Paul's cathedral. On entering it, after the surprise, at the grandeur of its interior, had a little sub- sided, 1 thought on a gallant hero, and pensively approaching the spot where his remains are deposited, I gazed with awe commingled with indignity, not at that 2 RAMBLES IN LONDON. splendid monument, which was voted to his memory by parliament two years since, and which should, long ere this, have formed the mausoleum of departed great- ness ; but, w ith shuddering, I mention it, at a few rotten boards, all that inter- vened between me and the shrine of Nelson ! " Is this," I mentally exclaimed, while I gazed on the trophies which overhung his grave, and waved to and fro with the moaning blast in sullen majesty, as if in sympathy with my outraged feelings : "is this the burial-place of him who once, it may be truly said, commanded the desti- nies of the world? is this a proof of the va- lue attached to his matchless victories at St Vincent, Aboukir, Copenhagen, and Trafalgar? ah, no !" I sighed, while I hung my head and blushed for my country. Wrapt in silent meditation, busy fancy conjured up a thousand ideas, in unison RAMBLES IN LONDON. 3 with a theme that is now almost entirely forgotten. C( Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus Tarn cari capitis ?" was once a general exclamation ; but now, alas ! his name and his actions have appa- rently passed with his clay-cold corse, over " that bourne from whence no tra- veller returns." Passed, did I say? yet, not for ever ! sinking to his final career, like the setting sun in a blaze of glory, he was still unlike his symbol ; for the splen- did achievements of his life were cemented by death, into an unfading immortality of happiness and fame, while the rays of the orb of day are doomed, and ever will be doomed, to experience their evening de- clension. They rise only to set ; but Nel- son's sun has risen to set no more ! Still adding link to link in my ex- cursive imagination, I pourtrayed his no- 4 RAMBLES IN LONDON. ble spirit to my mind's eye, and found it was hovering over a spot so shamefully neglected ; and yet, when I thought that, removed as he is from grosser earth, his pure essence must view the indifference of his country more with pity than with anger, some degree of consolation was imparted to my soul, and dropping a tear on the scanty and indecent covering of all that now remains of a dauntless mortal, I walked solemnly away, being totally unnerved for the gratification of further curiosity. I had seen enough to shock and to sur- prize me, and as I glanced a last look at the brave man's grave, I could not repress the following ejaculation. ' What a lesson for our future heroes ! ill it tend to corroborate their energies in the day of battle?" 1AMBLES IN LONDON. No. II. BANK OF ENGLAND. HAVING, in some measure, recovered from my indignation and surprise, at the un- feeling neglect exhibited to the memory of a Nelson, I next directed my wayward steps to the Bank of England, under the full expectation, from what I had previously heard of the extent of its buildings, and the immense capital which it is supposed to possess, that there, at least, my curiosity might imd some prey to feed on. But whether my indisposition to be pleased arose from a natural sombreness of temper, or from a conviction of self-evi- dent truths that could not be resisted, I am sorry to remark, that even here, so 6 far from brine: LTJ tilled, I could have laid IDC down in . >y one of its spacious chambers, and g^fr&Q way to a flood of tears. It is, indc'-d. a .-j;l<'iidid building, and well-adapt -d to its ori^in'il purpose, that of giving ciirr: :ic-y to auk! and silver, once the only medium of circulation throughout the kingdom : but when I viewed a crowd of clerks, busied only in the dispersion of paper, absolute masses of which might be de*cried on every side, I shuddered at the idea, that this very paper is the chief foun- dation of our J and d prosperity, which the t breath of suspicion or intestine com- motions might at any time dissolve for ever ! Floating only in the atmosphere of public opinion, it may tend to deceive the senseless multitude, and lead to a conclu- sion that all is right \\hich meets the eye, because it has hitherto preserved its buoy- ancy; but a well-wisher to his country, in tearing off the superficial covering of ex- RAMBLES IN LONDON. 7 ternal delusion, must be too sensible, that the phantom of artificial credit has been conjured up, to disguise the absolute scar- city of those metals, which, from their so- lidity and sterling value, are better suited to Englishmen than tissue paper, however ornamented by nominal figures. Can a better proof be adduced of the superior value of gold than that of a gui- nea, which will, at this moment, produce many shillings more than a one-pound note? but why has gold ceased to be a circulating medium ? the answer is obvious^; it has been accustomed so much to foreign emigra- tions, in payment of subsidies to powers, whom it was thought necessary to bribe to the defence of their own independence, that it could not be retained for the home department, and rags, manufactured into paper, were doomed to supply its place. In short, in my visit, to the Bank, I saw, & RAMBLES IN LONDON. or rather perhaps fancied I saw, nothing but the genius of England succumbing under a load of paper, and the statue of Fortune, tottering on its base, and ready to tumble at the first blast of serious mis- fortune, which God forefend. RAMBLES IN LONDON. No. III. COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE. ALTHOUGH the edge of my curiosity was not a little blunted by my unsatisfac- tory visit to the Bank, I still determined to persevere in my researches, and accord- ingly, in the evening, after my last ramble, I sallied forth for Covent-garden Theatre, with considerable hopes of being enabled to participate in a rational amusement, without the excitement of any painful ideas. But, in this instance too, I had indeed reckoned without my host, and I, more- over, fully attained the climax of disap- pointment, which was accompanied, not only by a great degree of bodily danger, but by almost indescribable effects on my mental and corporeal sensations, that made c 10 RAMBLES IN LONDON. me blush for human nature, in an unex- ampled state of wilful debasement. On my first entrance, I was much sur- prized at the motley groups which sat around me; and as I was beginning to fall into one of my usual reveries of thought on the subject, the crowing of a cock, not very distant, an excellent imitation cer- tainly, and no doubt very creditable to the human brute who made it, forcibly di- rected my attention from the stage, to this strange performer. I had scarcely turned my head, when the howl of a dog, beyond all description natural, really alarmed me, for I have a natural antipathy to dogs, and particularly to puppies. I did not bargain for such amusements, thought I, in coming hither ; surely, I must have mistaken the place of my destination ; and I was about to rise and take my depar- ture. But, on a sudden, at the appearance f a particular performer, ay ears were RAMBLES IN LONDON. 11 absolutely astounded by the dissonance of uproar, as if hell's confines had burst asun- der, to affright mankind by the yells of its demons ; yet still, although there was every sort of instrumental and vocal capabilities of performance, it was not, I can assure you ; the music of the spheres ; but, on the contrary, an incongruous mixture of the squalling of cats, the braying of asses, and the bellowing of bulls, conjoined with the springing of rattles, the blowing of crazed horns, and the piano addition of marrow- bones and cleavers, which not only dis- figured the countenances of the several performers who made such extraordinary and degrading exertions ; but, I fear, must have tended to create a disposition to consumption on the lungs of many of them. I asked my next neighbour, what all this meant; but I might, with equal propriety, have addressed myself to the goddess of silence, for he heard me not, and indeed 1'J RAMBLES IN LONDON. it was impossible for him to hear me ; for, not only hearing, but seeing also, from a thick cloud of dust, were entirely out of the question, although my sense of feel- , from continual knocks and bumps, and that also of my olfactory nerves, from the various scents, not exactly resem- bling frankincense and myrrh, which per- vaded the atmosphere, were continually excited. Already wedged into half my compass, to the danger of suffocation, by the pres- sure of the civilized and polished throng, and pent up in a corner, without the least power of exertion, I had now to witness some sham fights, and gladiatorial combats, for the sole amusement, no doubt, of those peaceful persons, who cam.e to witness different performance. And presently an O. P. dance, I think I heard it so termed, commenced, to the won- derful embellishment of the baized seats, RAMBLES IN LONDON. 13 and the great applause of the wondering spectators, some of whom, however, I saw, were eagerly anxious to escape from so muchjun ; fun did I term it ? to me it ap- peared an absolute perversion of reason, a downright insanity ; and I solemnly vowed, as I contrived to breathe in my corner, if ever I escaped safe out of so infernal a pit, that I would not venture there again, until my life should be insured, at an especial premium, from especial accidents, which no insurance office, in all its ima- gined contingencies, although this be the age of anticipatory improvement, ever cal- culated upon. After three groans to some unfortunate devil, no doubt, and three cheers to some great man, but whom I knew not, with the popular songs of God Save the King and Rule Britannia, as a good cloak to cover these singular proceedings in an enlightened country, I at last was released, 14 RAMBLES IN LONDON. without the lappels and skirts of my coat, and with the loss of my hat and gloves, and once more I breathed the air of liberty. RAMBLES IN LONDON. 15 No. IV. THE TOWER. THE ardency of curiosity and "cacoethes scribendi" beings till unsatisfied, and having supplied the deficits of my wardrobe, occa- sioned in my third ramble, by following my nose, like a cat destitute of whiskers, with- out ascertaining my ground, and feel- ing my way, to avoid a pitj I mounted my prancing Pegasus at an early hour, and dashing, like a cockney sportsman, through thick and thin, in spite of a fog, which was so dense that, to use a vulgar phrase, it might have been cut with a knife, I reached the Tower, anxious of course, like a raw countryman, to see its lions and beef-eaters, and to stare at what I have often heard termed in the country, one of the wonders of the world. 16 RAMBLES IN LONDON. The sun, in compliance with my wishes, pierced through the dark mantle of sul- phureous vapours, to give me a view of the noble pile, which, even amid all the dis- cordant and fantastic would-be improve- ment of modern sacrilege, is still majestic, and forcibly awakened, the folio wing ideas. In these times of luxury and speculation, England, if the expression may be allowed, lias forgotten herself ; by diverging from the excellent customs of good old times, and adopting finical language, manners, and refinements, not only incompatible with the sterling solidity of the English charac- ter, but actual imitations of the frippery of our foes : at which, our ancestors, could they rise from their graves, would gaze with astonishment and indignation, and whose utility, or benefits, even our moderns cannot satisfactorily explain. We have inventions without the disco- very of uses, and schemes innumerable RAMBLES IN LONDON. 1 without sufficient invention to supply de- fects, or to engraft on what perhaps would be really useful, if carried into execution, those improvements of which it may be actually susceptible. Not that I intend, by this re- mark, to decry En-r'ish inventions or Zn- glish improvements of a rational nature; far from it: I love my country, and would fain see her become herself again. On passing through the gateway, where the supposed bones of Edward V. and his brother were found, I shuddered at the ambition of their guilty uncle, who could thus smooth his passage to a throne, by le- velling the barriers of allegiance and af- finity ! but I felt happy at the convic- tion, that if our present princes are smo- thered, it will be pro tempore only, on, and not between, down beds, in indulgent embraces. Having viewed the noble animals, that pine away existence, in spaces tmnecessa- D *18 RAMBLES IN LONDOX. rily incommodious to savage propensities for liberty, and witnessed their goadings by the stick of the keeper, to dispel the lan- guid torpors of restrained confinement, I felt no wish to satisfy the impertinent cravings of keeper after keeper, when agreeably to my opinion, exhibitions to the public should be purely gratuitous, as they are in France: and accompanying the warder to the armoury, I must allow that here indeed, both my curiosity and ten- dency to moralize were fully gratified. The singular, but admirable taste, in which the various arms were disposed around, peculiarly struck me, and I de- precated from my soul, the. mad-headed ambition of a destroyer, who is so con- tinually rendering it necessary to disturb its peaceful arrangements, with increased powers and territories to himself, but with no other result to England, than hastening her downfall ; like the scorpion, which having assailed its enemies in vain, at last, RAMBLES IN LONDON. J9 stings itself to death with its own tail. Proceeding from hence to the old armoury, I was exceedingly delighted, at the kings and princes in armour ; and when I came to Edward the Third, the Black Prince, and Henry the Fifth, I thought on the famed battles of Cressy, Poictiers, and Agincourt, when French valour was com- pelled to yield to English daring. These are proud eras in our history, because their consequences were immediately be- neficial and glorious to the country ; but can /say the same of our present victories, which terminate in a retreat from the field of battle, and doom our soldiers to perish by daily hundreds, in a poisonous island ? On viewing the representation of Queen Elizabeth and her page, and the numerous trophies taken from the Spanish Armada, I contrasted this, which was one of the brightest periods of our history, with present times, and was compelled, with heart-rending mortifi- cation, to draw this melancholy conclusion : D 2 20 RAMBLES IN LONDON'. ' My country, I fear, is rapidly verging to her final declension, and will soon sink to rise no more." My visits terminated with a sight of the crown jewels, when I was infinitely more dazzlf (1 by the splendour of their appear- ance, than anxious to wear such decorated thorns : and, as I left the office, I impas- sionately exclaimed," unless accompanied by mercy, the strictest justice, and the most untainted purity, ye are foils to display the contrary qualities of the wearer, to the eye of day." I felt however elated by pride, that this sentiment should be inapplicable to our good old king, whose life has been one un- dcviating scene of moral rectitude, exem- plary excellence, and domestic virtue; although the storms of political events have beaten, but roughly, on his disturbed progress, and near approach to half a century. RAMBLES IN LONDON. 21 As I returned home, I thus apostro- phized my native country. " Ah happy England! if you were but sensible of the lofty height on which you stand ! true to yourself, and the faithful economist of gold and silver, you might still defy the whole world, embattled in ar- ray against you, and be under no necessity of bowing to any potentate, except high Heaven ! " be wise to day, 'tis madness to defer ;" stay not to calculate the height of the abyss into which you are ready to fall; but instantly retrace your steps to a less perilous situation, by rectifying all that should be rectified, and collecting every resource within the capacious bosom of a still powerful empire. Value not France, once your slave and footstool, but now, such has been the will of fate, imperial regal France, under the sway of a Corsi- can ! if she still choose war, let war, on your part, be entirely defensive! if she pre- 22 RAMBLES IN LONDON. fer peace, accept of it, on no other con- dition, than that of the most perfect equality, even of superiority, if ministers will be firm enough to insist upon it," RAMBLES IN LONDON. 23 No. V. CITY FRIENDSHIP. MY appetite for rambling being a little exhausted by my unsatisfactory attempts to gratify it with pleasing food, I deter- mined to try an experiment on London friendship and hospitality. In my return from the Tower, I ac- cordingly called at the house of a respect- able tradesman in the city, who had been accustomed, in his visits to the country, to pass an annual month with me ; under the full expectation, that he would receive me with that unfeigned pleasure, which an ho- nest heart, untainted by the world, ever derives from exhibiting a hearty welcome to a valued friend. RAMBLES Ttf LOXDOtf. On knocking at the door, I was directed by the servant to my friend's counting-house,, where I found him snugly caged within a high partition, surmounted by railing, which, from the doors beinjr bolted in- ' O side, perfectly secluded him from every in- truder. Eli vat in i: myself on tip-toe to exhibit my countenance, which, I foolishly thought, would have been hailed with cordiality, I was absolutely petrified by the frigidity of his stare through the bars of his volun- tary prison, and stiff formality of posture, like a crocodile without a joint in his back- bone, accompanied by the cool exclama- tion. " God bless me! is that Air. ? well, how d'ye do ? where are you ? per- haps, I may stc-p in at night, and give you a call." When my indignation, (during which, if he had dared to quit his confinement, I certainly should have spurned him like a RAMBLES IN LONDON. 25 foot-ball around the mean room, which his meanness disgraced,) had subsided sufficiently, to admit of cooler reflections) I turned on my heel, witn hjart-feit con- tempt for a narrow-minded reptile, who .could sacrifice even common decency to pretended business, and, on whom, I had so .frequently lavished delicacies, whose pur- chase not only subjected me to inconve- nient expences, but deprived many a poor neighbour of my wonted kindness. I certainly did regret my want of fore* knowledge, and passing his door with a full determination never to darken it again, I thought on an excellent plan, which was resorted to a short time since by a coun- try friend of mine, under similar circum- stances. Calmly pocketing the neglect of his London acquaintance, he ordered the ser- vants, on the cockney's next visit, to give timely notice of his approach to the house ; E $6 RAMBLES IN LONDON. and, the order being attended to, when hfc waddled up, with matchless impudence, to gormandize and guzzle as usual, my friend half opened the door, and protrud- ing his face, only through the aperture with a gridiron before it, he satirically exclaim- ed, Oh Mr. ! well, how dye do? confoundedly sorry can't ask you in, being particularly engaged. Where do you put up ? eh ? perhaps may look in upon you bye and bye." The cockney slunk off, with a Quixotic phiz, and my friend thus got rid of a teizing bore. It is not to be supposed, that, with my moralizing humour, I could permit this disappointment to pass without a com- ment; indeed, it deserves one, and shall receive it. " A true friend should possess many qualities of a peculiar, though attainable, nature : reason, to advise ; love, to cherish ; compassion, to pity ; wisdom, to prevent RAMBLES IN LQNDOX. 2J- wants ; and sometimes power to re- lieve ti^em; together also with integrity and truth, to remove every suspicion of de- ceit and self-interest." What else is friendship ? what else that sentiment, which, in a low degree, faintly resembles the attributes of the Deity? most undoubtedly, it does not consist in the guilty pursuits, envious distrusts, and unmeaning civilities of fashionable par- ties ; where a vain display of wealth, fami- lies, or titles ; the ridicule of all virtue and honesty, and unblushing encomiums on ex- pence and vice, are the constant topics: where each listens only to betray, and speaks -or rather lisps, only to deceive ; where the mutual abuse of friends and enemies can alone reconcile them to the tediousness of each other's company ; ( for society it can- not be termed) except indeed, when gam- ing lends its friendly assistance to kill their hours, and fill up the vacancy of time, amongst these very vacant gentry. :* RAMBLES IN LONDON. Such frippery in our manners, such lux- ury in our expences, and such volatility in our general conduct, were never wit- nessed among our ancestors ; and all that plain honest confidence, which formerly ex- isted in my native isle, is frittered away to paltry parade, instead of hospitality, and redundant professions, instead of sincerity. From the booing Macsycophant at court to the humble peasant at a country hop, deceit, fraud, and perfidy, are hourly prac- tised ; indeed, they appear, of late, to have so firmly established their throne in the breasts of Englishmen, that to dispute their sovereignty would be vain and nugatory. In, short, to conclude my lecture, friend- ship, honour, and fidelity, are banished from the land, and one pitiful system of general selfishness* is the most conspi" * The writer could here bear an highly honour, able testimony to some few exceptions of the most RAMBLES IN LONDON. 99 cuous characteristic of its overgrown me- tropolis. liberal description ; but he abstains from particula- rization, because those, to whom he is deeply in. debtcdfor the greatest favours, would blush at any other praise, but that offered by self-approbation, for kindnesses which the singular excellence of their hearts alone inspired. 30 RAMBJJES IN LONDON. No. VI. HOUSi; OF COMMONS. THE next object of my untired curiosity was the parliament-house, where our re- presentatives are too frequently occupied in matters of little or no importance, w r hilst others, of essential consequence to the real, solid, and permanent interests of the country, demand their attention; where party squabbles and captious disputes are the orders of the day, instead of the grand features of national amelioration. As I entered the house, impressed with this lamentable truth, which is the more to be regretted at this crisis, when all should unite in one common cause against one common enemy, who concentres within RAMBLES IN LOtfDOS. 31 himself the physical powers and the means of annoyance of the entire continent ; I did not immediately advert to its vacant seats and untenanted apartments : but busy fancy speedily supplied the deficiencies of rea- lity, by conjuring up the figures of those who had, at various times, during my life, made the vault echo with their oral exer- tions. Whatever his obstinacy of opinion, and pertinacious adherence to his own schemes, whether right or wrong, it must be allowed by all, that Mr. Pitt was no less distin- guished for his unimpeachable integrity than for his financial and political acumen ; he directed the helm of England, for her O ' fancied prosperity, through events that might have appalled a weaker mind : and he weathered the storm of the French re- volution, under which every other power, but England, has sunk to ruin. He died, as he had lived, at perfect enmity with private aggrandizement, and a martyr to 32 RAMBLES IN LONDON. the ill success of designs framed solely for his country's good. " O when shall we look upon his like again t" Next appeared Air. Fox, his political rival, whose early life was blighted by the mildew of dissipation, and was dedicated to every thing else but his country's ad- vantage : but his latter days were bright in- deed ; and when I reflected on his conduct in the negotiation for peace, on his manly diplomatic correspondence, and on the de- cided proofs he ultimately afforded of a love for his country, I wished that he could have lived longer to illume the horizon of England, with talents chastened, as they were, by experience and better reason. Then came Mr. Wardle, whose popu- larity was deservedly acquired, at first, by his courageous attack of royal defects, that bade fair to subject a gallant army to the command of an harlot ; but, alas, poor human nature ! succeeding circumstances, RAMBLES IN LONDON. 33 and the verdict of a British Jury, have proved, too plainly, that however ho- nourable his motives, his acts were ac- companied by weaknesses, which consider- ably detract from his original merit. Still there is a large field before him for the rec- tification of past errors; and the future op- portunities of benefiting his country, it may be fairly presumed from present ap- pearances, will not be few. Let him per- severe, as he commenced his career, and Wardle may become himself again. With respect to inferior satellites, I really was at a perfect loss to draw the distinction required, between the ostensible glare of pa- triotism, and ranting eloquence and their accompanying motives ; and I sighed, when I felt how difficult it was to prove the pu- rity of correspondence that should sub- sist, and found that actions in power and professions out of it are distant as the poles. F 34 RAMBLES IN LONDON. For these many months past, I have seen nothing but perpetual changes and vacillation in my good sovereign's coun- cils ; I have seen those aspire to place and power, when " otium cum dignitate," would have been an act of mercy to them- selves and country ; I have seen a cabinet associate together with apparent harmony, lor months together, when a secret cabal prevailed for the elevation of one member, and the exclusion of another, to the sub- sequent danger of the lives of both; I have seen men gifted with acknowledged talents and high rank, refuse to join in forming any arrangement that might tend to the public service; and I have seen an ex-minister impeach his accomplices, be- cause they were wiser than himself, and perfectly outwitted him. Having wit- nessed all these remarkable facts, I dare say the reader will agree with me that si- lence is the best mode of expression, to us a bull, that I can adopt. tt AMBLES IN LONDON. 35 No. VII. WESTMINSTER-ABBEY. WESTMINSTER-ABBEY was the next ob-* ject of my inquisitorial researches ; on my approach to which, I was mightily dis- gusted atthe late heterogeneous and expen- sive improvements, and the singular posi- tion of a modern church, which has the effect of intercepting, what would other- wise be, the best view of its impressive grandeur. The pygmy plantations too, evergreen shrubberies, tiny walks, close shaven grass- plots, and modern railing did not escape my observation, arid I could not help draw- ing .a comparison, which neither re- F 2 56 RAMBLES IN LONDON. dounded to the credit nor taste of my country. But this was not all, the extreme filth of its internal appearance, and the impossibi- lity of penetrating into its " sanctum sanc- torum," without gratifying the importunities of its insolent vergers, not a little surprised me ; particularly as I had always appre- hended, that the various monuments, whe- ther of poets, warriors, or statesmen, had been generally erected at the public ex- pence : and I naturally conceived that the public had an undoubted right to view, tfhat each individual of the community, whether richer or poorer, had united to raise by his individual taxation. In France, they manage these matters better, thought I ; there, they not only have a museum of national monuments, but every thing is done to excite national emu- lation ; to awaken the ambition of dor- 37 mant genius ; and to form a pabulum for improvement aud amelioration in all that may tend to the public service ; without allowing the spectators to offer a single iota to the various attendants, who are paid by government, must not this political genero- sity eventually redound to the honour of the country ? it certainly must, and I hear- tily wish England would follow her ex- ample. Remedies, it is well known, may be ex^ tracted from poisons. The cassada root, for instance, is a rank poison, if taken in its natural state ; but, -if the juice is distilled from it, and permitted to decompose a se- diment, that sediment forms tapioca, one of the most nutritious articles in particu- lar diseases. In like manner we may derive advantages from France, by rejecting he* whole code, as an unhealthsome mass, and adopting only that part of it, which may actually benefit us. RAMBLES IN LONDON. When a warrior in embryo is permitted to gaze at the tombs of immortal heroes, embellished with trophies, at all times, without a fee for the spectacle, will not the seeds of warlike propensities more easily ripen, and at length flourish in glorious at- chievements ? when a youthful poet, whose muse is unfledged, and has not yet dared to soar to the realms of fancy, may look at the shrine of departed genius, without being disturbed in the reveries of laurelled hope, by appeals to his pocket; will his ima- gination be less vigorous, or his eye roll with less frenzy to Parnassean elevation? or when some village Hampden, whose bosom has long glowed with a fervour, which he cannot account for, surveys the monument of Chatham, without any regard to his purse; will he not instantly imbibe the meaning of his till then unaccountable ideas, and stamp them for ever with the revered name of pure amor patriae? To keep alive a national pride in arts, RAMBLES IN LONDON. 39 politics, civilization, or war, and to give it every national assistance that may be af- forded, is the first duty of an honest states- man : in this respect every thing should be as free as air, and Icarus should not be furnished with waxen wings that may melt at the glare of self-interested considera- tions, but be enabled freely to reach the highest atmosphere of heroic greatness, without any proclivity to grosser thoughts. If these reflections should appear far fetched and theoretical, a regard for my country has solely dictated them. I wish to see her, what she once was, great, good, and dignified in every point; but, I fear, the crisis is past when I may expect to view her thus. 40 RAMBLES IN LONDON. No. VIII. WESTMINSTER-HALL. I ENTERED this noble fabric, just at the period, when the courts were sitting: where one circumstance instantaneously and forcibly struck me, which must be obvious to every stranger, the smallness of the places allotted for the dispensation of justice! But, I must candidly confess, that the- effect of this discovery was soon over- powered, by the strong proofs I witnessed, of the invaluable nature of the English constitution, in the trial by jury, and the undeviating integrity of the presiding judges ; which excited a degree of certainty, that, however defective my country may be in various particulars, yet justice at RAMBLES IN LONDON. 41 least has not left her for another re- sidence. This remark, nevertheless, must be taken with some grains of allowance ; for a cir- cumstance may be generally beneficial, at the good time that it is attended by disad- vantages. To corroborate this assertion, I heard such brow-beatings and cross-examinations, of unfortunate witnesses,who were compelled, in many instances, to contradict themselves a thousand times over, during a trial, that should not be permitted. Whatever may force ablush into the cheek of shame, occasion painful emotions, or harrow up, without necessity, the mental sensibilities > is not examination, but persecution: and the truth should be obtained, not by circumlo- cutory ambiguities, or forceful interpreta- tions, but by plain enquiries to the very purpose, which should require only a sim- ple affirmation or negation. G 42 RAMBLES IN LONDON. And here, I cannot but present my rea- der with an excellent reply, made by a wit- ness to a learned brother, both of whom were extraordinarily gifted with dense pe- ricraniums in the course of examination, I, the knight of legal periphrasis, became so irritated, at the incomprehensibility of the knight of the clod, as at length to exclaim, " really, my friend, you seem to have been inoculated for stupidity." " Alack ! Sir,'' replied the clown, after a vacant stare, and a few scratches of his cleverer pate, " and donna you zeem to have it un the natchral- ler way" Barristers, it seems, are privileged per- sons, who conceive, because they are armed with the stings of their profession, and shielded by the high sounding sanction of justice and the laws, that they may raise a laugh, at any poor devil's expence : but, to me, it appears that such trifling, and some- times much worse, is derogatory to the RAMBLES IN LONDOJf. 43 profession, to justice, and the laws ; and exceedingly degrading to him who uses it. Ridicule, at best, is but an unfair substi- tute for coercive facts, in deducing the truth; it may, and no doubt, too fre- quently does, pervert the ends of the law, and obtain a verdict : but the mere circum- stance of a fee can prove no satisfaction to an honourable mind, for that verdict's pro- bable injustice. Every man then, who is a barrister, should be possessed of an hand- some independence-; otherwise he will be subject, particularly if he be a clever man, to continual temptations from the straight line of rectitude, and may be compelled, by necessity, to be guilty of acts, from whose baseness his will revolts, wilful in- juries to others, and moral defection from self-approbation. Another circumstance also excited my notice in Westminster-hall ; the admittance of attornies, without a single question 44 ftAMBLES IN LONDON. being asked, as to their legal proficiency, previous character, reputability of connec- tions, and extent of property : for all these circumstances, in my opinion, are abso- lutely indispensable in a pursuit, where every thing should be regulated by unim- peachable honour, because the greatest confidence is generally placed in its mem- bers. A higher duty, ( say .600), should be imposed on the articles of clerkship, which would tend, not a little, to exclude petti- foggers, and, by degrees, render the profes- sion, what I should wish to see it, univer- eally honourable throughout its practice, mid truly respectable in all its branches. RAMBLES IK LONDOff. 45 No. IX. THE ADMIRALTY. ON my return to the inn, I was induced to stop, for a few minutes, at the Admiralty, in order to survey the telegraph, which has long been out of the habit of imparting events of a favourable nature, to indulge English curiosity with news, from any one of the four cardinal points that gave birth to the word. Some time since, it announced the sail- ing of a mighty expedition, the grandest, no doubt, that ever left the British shores, and which may be truly said to have me- naced, while it awed the entire of Eu- rope ; but when has it declared its final success? ah never! for what can it tell 46' RAWBLF.S IN LONDON. but the disgrace of England, the ridicule of the world, the impoverishment of the na- tion, and the inglorious martyrdom, by hundreds during a day, of a gallant army ? Unfortunate warriors! every brave man must lament your untimely fate ! and, when he heaves the sigh of unavailing sympathy, he cannot but reprobate the adamantine feelings of those, who, in the scramble for places and intrigues for pow- er, were totally insensible, that each hour of their ambitious contests was characte- rised by the deaths of many an hero ! ! ! But does not your blood, so shamefully, so cruelly, squandered, cry out for ven- geance ? O good old England ! where is now thy protecting genius, to shield thee from the evils, which some of thy own sons, indifferent to thy interests, have conspired, and are conspiring, to bring upon thee : Good heavens ! is there no man, or set of men, to be found in this capacious empire, RAMBLES IN LONDON. 47 capable of directing thy helm with steady fortitude, or of encountering, and finally vanquishing, the menaces of misfortune? must the dark catalogue of mischievous in- anity be still farther increased ? or have we not yet reached the acm of folly ? is it not sufficient that human blood should be wast ed like dross, and that the luxuries, conve- niences, and necessaries of life, should be rendered almost unattainable, in conse- quence of a taxation so grossly misapplied, without honour, or advantage, to the coun- try ; but that the existences and fortunes of Englishmen should still continue, at the mercy of a thoughtless few, who flatter themselves, no doubt, that the periods of enquiry and retribution will never arrive ! ! ! But, shudder ye statesmen ! the retribu- tory period must, sooner or later come, if not in this sublunary sphere, at least, in another and a better world ; where all tears, it is to be hoped, will be dispelled from the cheeks of the guiltless, and the guilty will 48 RAMBLES IN LONDON. receive the punishment due to their obdu- rate cruelties! This long apostrophe passed over ray musing mind, as I stood in the street ; for the sensations of regret, and those of ind igna- tion, at the apathy of my countrymen to an event, so calculated to prove an VttpGrioHt excitement of popular lamentation, could not be repressed. I felt, as a man, for < national character, and actuated by the mild dictates of benevolent impressions, I could not but commisserate the unmerited sufferings of a noble soldiery, whose blood and energies have formed a rich harvest for the scythe of death, and have been sa- crificed, alas ! not in the honorable field of battle, where the joys of victory mighthave assuaged the pangs of dissolution, but to inglorious disease alone ! Distraction was in the thought! and plac- ing my hand before my countenance to hide its emotions, I found a tear trickling UAMBLES IN LONDON. 4 down my cheek, but I let it fall, for it was an offering to sensibility, that would have honoured a prince ; and proceeding home- wards, I gave utterance, as I went, to the following soliloquy : " Alas! and is England reduced to such melancholy circumstances, as to be a. just butt for ridicule to a haughty rival, and the object of pity, even to herself! or must I compare her to a ship in distress and with- out a rudder, whose officers are in a state of distraction at the surrounding perils, and whose crew is thrown into disorder by the incapacity of their commanders ! And yet her lion, if properly called into action, might still daunt her enemies, as he has been wontto do ; but who will heed his roar- ings, when his claws are rendered useless, by the inexperience, or something worse, of his governors, and he can only lash his own sides with useless fury? how strange ! with such indigenous resources and native courage as the empire possesses, that 50 RAMBLES IN LONDON. every meditated injury to her foes should r ecoil to herself alone, upon the aggran- dizement of contractors, and the national degradation ! But let me forbear, for I trust, merited justice will soon be inflicted on the authors, abettors, and chief director, of M'hat may be almost termed, a death blow to the country. RAMBLES IN LONDON. No. X. UNFORTUNATE FEMALES. HAVING separated from a few London acquaintances, with whom I had passed the day at a tavern, (a mode of practice much resorted to, because it imparts all the ani- mal pleasures of association, without the deadly expence of hospitality at home, and one mouth may be fed with more ease than a dozen) ; I was solitarily tracing my way homewards, at an untimely hour, when, at the turning of a corner, my pro- gress was suddenly arrested by the view of a woe, begone, and meagre female ; reclined on the flinty pavement, with her head rest- ing on a flight of steps. H 2 52 RAMBLES IN LONDON. Her whole appearance bespoke the ex- tremity of wretchedness, and her tattered garments, stiil decorated with the remains of former finery, but ill concealed a frame, that was apparently, too delicate to cope with the rude winds of Heaven, which whistled loudly around her. Although a married man, I considered it no breach of conjugal duty, to exercise the feelings of humanity ; and approaching nearer, with a view to contribute such means of relief, as were in my power ; I found that the melancholy object of my contemplation was buried, as I thought, in the ostensible forgetfullness of all her sorrows. But no ! although asleep, the activity of her soul was stamped legibly on her continually agitated countenance, and that countenance, which still bore the re- licks of symmetrical beauty, was now con- vulsed with horror, now presented the image of indescribable despair, while hollow RAMBLES IN LONDON. 63 moans, that betrayed the deepest internal agonies, completed the picture, which I was doomed to witness. I shook with trepidation, as the glare of a lamp, suspended over her head, enabled me to gaze at a sacrifice to perfidy ; and folding my arms in a musing posture, I de- jectedly exclaimed, " Unhappy being, you once was innocent ! once a fond father and delighted mother looked on you with ten- derness, and shielded you from every harm that could possibly assail you ! no father protects you now ! no mother's tender arms extend to receive you, in her impas- sioned embrace, and to solace and comfort you ! oh no ! forgotten, deserted, shunned, a prey perhaps to disease and famine ! who is there alas ! to own you now !" Overcome by my feelings, I lingered a few moments, to indulge their pressure, and then placing a note within her hand, that lay list- lessly on the step, I offered the tribute of a 54 RAMBLES IN LONDON. parting sigh, and left her for ever ! As the origin and proposed object of all my rambles, was the good of my country, I reflected deeply, as I proceeded, on the causes which fill the streets of the metro- polis with thousands of individuals, who have no other means of support, but the wages of prostitution ; and I imagined they might be primarily traced to the employ- ment of men in offices, which might be more appropriately filled by assiduous fe- males, whose energies are more calculated by nature for sedentary tusks, than tho,>e of the robustcr sex. Were the boards of our lailors to be stripped of their disgraceful appendages, mere apologies for men; and those ap- pendages to be employed in more manly duties : were the counters of our mercers and milliners to be cleared of the finical cox- combs and petit-maitres, who lisp every thing, but English, to their credulous cus- tomers, and their fierce and whiskered RAMBLES IN LONDON. 55 countenances to be transplanted to the thinned ranks of our army: and were an asylum for female servants, coming to London for places, and unprotected women of every description, to be erected on a li- beral basis, in correspondence with the well-known generous feelings of the En- glish character, which might easily be done by a trifling individual subscription : female industry might resume its peculiar habits, and the softer sex might become less ex- posed to ruin, from which their seclusion would more effectually screen them; de- bauchery too would be at a loss to find fresh food, to glut its villainous propensi- ties; decency and virtue, with their assistant necessity, might urge their usual domi- nion ; and England be purged of one, at least, of her chronic diseases. But these are mere suggestions for more expanded ideas, which the writer submits to his countrymen in general, but more particularly to his fair countrywomen, with 56 RAMBLES IN LONDON. deference, and a heart-felt wish, that the period of amelioration may yet arrive, when man may be employed as man ought to be, and realize the remark of Macbeth. " / d*re do all that may become a man; who dares do morc^ is none." When also the fairest object in the creation shall be up- held, supported, and protected in her na- tural sphere and when both sexes shall conspire together, both by example and mutual exertions, to distinguish themselves, as reason and nature have plainly de- monstrated, if is their duty to do. I cannot close these remarks, without the insertion of a few lines, appropriate to the subject. " What! if the blush of guilt has stain'd the cheek ' Of modesty ? if passion's rivid heat, " Or fierce temptation, hurried her too far? 1 Cannot the downcast look, the soul drawn sigh, The humid check of the true repentance, sarc ' The poor forlorn, and give her to her friend*, ft If not with purity, yet still not lost RAMBLES IN LONDON. 57 " To virtue and the world? will not, alas! " Ah ! will not these avail to rescue her tc From infamy, too sure attendant on " A female lapse, whether she willing err, * c Or weaker sense succumb to stronger art ? " Ah! no with gossip haste, to spread her crime, u Slander impetuous flies, on mantling wings, " That cast a deeper shade on what was erst " Too dark, (whisp'ring the woeful truth in ear " Of those, who, at the tea-table, delight " To trace frail nature's serpentizing course; " Who feed on lesser faults, with mark'd neglect " Of virtues greater far ; fit ones to deal u The covert blow of envious obloquy) " Till the sad victim of a villain's lore, li Shunn'd by her sex, and driven from her home; u At hateful variance with a scornful world; " Is forc'd to drink yet deeper draughts of vice, " Or shameful end her sorrows with her life." Ah ! my fair countrywomen, the wretched female I have represented to you, is no ideal picture; trace but the dreary streets of London at the midnight hour, and you will see hundreds under almost similar circum- stances. I RAMBLES IN LONDON. Oi these disconsolate beings, some per- haps are the daughters of respectable fa- milies, who have disowned and deserted them; others have lallen from innocence in a more humble sphere, which was ely- sium to their present sufferings; and all arc the sad victims of the false oaths and var- nished protestations of designing artifice, even perhaps of those very men, to whose senseless praises you listen with rapture at a ball, or to whom your destinies may have united you; who were infamous enough to seduce virtue from the path of rectitude, which, probably but for them, would never have transgressed Compassionate then, I intreat you, and strive to shun a similar fate; and, amid the blessings and comforts that environ you, sometimes breathe a sigh for those, who, in the experience of unceasing cruelty from their persecutor man, and their own sex, may be truly termed outcasts of society, that merit pity rather than condemnation. I1AMBLES IN LONDON. 59 The gem of sensibility, th^t shall tremble in your eye, will add a lustre to the most virtuous heart ; it will be an offering, not beneath the dignity of the purest principles; and it will ennoble the feelings from whose fount it springs, at the same moment that it represses every ambitious wish for the same mistaken grandeur which has proved their ruin ! 60 it AMBLES IN LONDON. No. XI. OPERA-HOUSE. THIS splendid building was the next object of my peregrinations. And here, if I had much to admire, I had nothing to praise ; for the occasion of its erection, and its subsequent use, have been totally wrong. Having staid as long as I could sit with patience, to witness the monkey grimaces, indecent exertions, and painfully thrilling melodies, run mad, of foreign per- formers, I took French leave, and bade a ready adieu to an amusement, which, if it fascinate the unthinking, cannot find its fascination on the basis of reason, or atone, RAMBLES IN LONDON. 61 by its magnificence, for the neglect of every thing English. What has England, still solid, sterling old England, to do with French and Ita- lian posture masters, fiddlers, singers, and dancers, who debauch the minds of our natives, and, after amassing a fortune by private intelligence to the foes of the realm, and the credulous follies of Milor Anglois, return home to consume the fruits of their treachery and quackery, with sarcastic sneers, that " John Bull has got more mo- ney than wit." If operas, pantomimes, and squalling, must be indulged in, have we not English talents and abilities of every species to re- sort to ? while we possess a Billington, shall we do homage to a Catalani, the pensionary of Napoleon ? and while we may be gra- tified with the manly strains of an Incle- don, shall we listen, forsooth, to the squeak- ing of Italian emasculi ? 62 RAMBLES IN LONDON. Let the nation be Anglicised ; let our good old customs of appretiating and pursuing every thing English, be again re- verted to ; let our theatres and places of public resort be purely English ; let the French and Italian languages be spoken only in France and Italy; let French phrases, in our diplomatic correspondence and le- gal acts, be entirely abolished ; let heavy penalties be attached to the consumption in this country of French wines or bran- dies, or any article imported from France or her dependencies, except corn and grain, and the importation of these should not be permitted but in cases of indispensable necessity; Let our infants be taught to suck in a hatred for France, with their mo- ther's milk, whereby the national spirit may be kept alive to future generations ; and, should peace ever take place between Eng- land and France, kt the nine qua non of a preparatory arrangement be, as no neutral spot can be found on the continent^ that the French ambassador shall come to Lou- RAMBLES IN LONDON. 63 don, instead of permittiug an English one to commit the honour of his country, by crossing the channel, to subject himself to dishonourable confinement and Napoleon'f brutality. And as for those cringing foreigners, but secret vipers, who infest the metro* polis, and give to their masters a faithful account of all that transpires; let them be banished instantly out of the kingdom, that they may no longer sting the bosom that feeds them, and render an essential service to an inveterate foe. It is ridiculous now to shrink from dan- gers; they should be looked in the face and encountered manfully; and the seeds of national evils should be immediately dug up, to prevent the formation of roots, which it may finally prove impossible to eradicate. In such times as these, when we have to 04 RAMBLES IX LONDON. tight for our very existence, as an in- dependant nation, and to contend with a man, ivho may be said to command the whole of the civilized world, (Eng- land and her appurtenances alone ex- cepted,) and is moreover efficient, vigorous, successful, and immeasurably ambitious, it is the height of madness to temporize with impending misfortunes, and wait their coin- ing with indifferent calmness. No ! let the actual cautery that may effect a cure, how- ever painful, be instantly applied to the open wound, and not the palliative remedies of indecisive measures ; for, by such means alone, we can escape the thraldom of France. RAMBLES IN LONDON. 60 No. XII. POOR LAWS. " As this world was formed for action, it consequently follows that no man has a right to be idle, or to live in absolute dependence on the support of others '> and, as the very basis of civilized society is founded on the implied performance, by each individual belonging to it, o. those several duties, which may most con- duce to the public good, without prov- ing injurious to private interest; it may naturally be presumed, that, if one indi. vidual be idle, or choose to forfeit the spirit of independence, by accepting a maintenance, when he may procure one by his own industry, in the first case, the loss occasioned by his supineness, must be K 66 RAMBLES IN LONDON. supplied by the necessary quantum of ex- ertion in some other quarter, and, in the latter case, he must become a burthen both to himself, and to the community of which he proves so unworthy a member." This observation had frequently occurred to me, during my rambles, in conse- quence of the assailments of sturdy beg- gars in every street, and the disgusting nui- sances of importunate idleness and affected disease, with which London abounds : and I trust, as the subject is so fraught with the capability of improvement, and the propo- sition of benevolent expedients can never prove offensive to considerate minds, that the following remarks and proposals, which are applicable to every part of the king- dom, may not be uninteresting. That idleness, and obligations to others for sup- port, are an abuse of the faculties of na- ture, and an injury, both by example and effects, to society in general, must be ge- nerally allowed : but do they not extend RAMBLES IN LONDON. 67 still farther., and render almost nugatory and unavailing, the innumerable charita- ble institutions, for which England is so justly celebrated, and particularly the pa- rish poor and workhouses; by affording a premature and too easy admission to vice, infamy, and irrefragable guilt, to the un- just exclusion of the undeservedly suffer- ing, honest, and virtuous, who either pre- fer to sigh in secret, because they are ashamed to divulge their wants, or per- haps dislike a commixture with the refuse of mankind? In admitting this however, it must be confessed that the claims of individual on individual are great and coercive ; united together by a chain, which cannot be broken, without manifest injury to the public good, every man has a right to say to another, however great, rich, or power- ful, if Thou art my brother; inthee, tow us I am, I view a fellow-creature, who is elevated for my instruction, happiness, and comfort : K 2 6'8 RAMBLES IN LONDON. and from thee, I expect the facilities that shaft enable me, not merely to vegetate as a mats of breathing clay, but to become an instru- ment of ad-vantage to myself and others." To the statesman, In particular, he would so address himself, who should recollect that the arcana of government consist, not in the futile idea of territorial extension, or foreign acquisitions, without any regard to the population of his country; but in a sincere wish to condense the felicity and independence of that population into a small, but solid compass ; and creating a perceptible and valuable stake, jit to be contended for, in the hour of emergency. By promoting the acquisition of inde- pendence to all the governed, he consults the feelings of true benevolence, at the same time that he strengthens the sinews of the state, and affords a pabulum for national emulation. For, if the path of independence be rendered accessible to. RAMBLES IN LONDON. 69 all, all must necessarily be interested in the preservation of that country or go- vernment, which smoothed its difficulties: and those, in particular, the lower classes, would have something more to animate them in the performance of their labour, than the mere idea of keeping body and soul together by their daily pay : the hope, when age or incapacity to work should ar- rive, of sitting down each man under his own tree, and bequeathing their savings to an ameliorated generation. It cannot be denied then, that a system, calculated to emancipate the largest and most useful portion of society from the thraldom of senile ichas, and to produce it every possibility of comfort consistent with its circumstances, would be a desi- deratum both in morals and politics, howe- ver problematical in point of execution : and the statesman who could effect it^by means suitable to the end proposed, would render much greater services to his fel- low subjects, than he could ever hope for, 70 RAMBLES IN LONDON. from a career of victories and the most successful expeditions. The latter would produce the exchange of solid strength for glittering splendour, and increase the statistical superficies of the empire; but the former would entwine benevolence philanthrophy, and general, as well as in- dividual interest, in a wreath together, and make him immortal. It will be perceived that the fore- going observations are chiefly excited by a consideration of the poor laws in this country,, whose inefficacy, in remedying the evils they were framed to cure, cannot fail to occasion the deepest regret in every well-wisher to the national pros- perity. If the base of a pyramid be weak and ill-founded, its more elevated parts are consequently the less secure ; but fix that base on a rock, which cannot be shaken, and the erections on it will stand for ever. Even so it is with the lower classes, for they are the base of the English govern- ment, and on them rise the various gra- RAMBLES IN LONDON. 7l dations to the acme or pinnacle of majesty. Ought that base to be neglected, at a period when, to use the expresson of Othello, " Chaos is come again," and the whole universe is trembling with convul- sions ? Constituted, or perhaps rather acted on, as the poor laws are at present, they incite more to idleness than to exertion ; they serve also to cramp, if not totally dis- pel., all honourable feelings in those, for whose benefit they were enacted, and, it may be confidently stated, occasion a thousand ills to the poorer classes, which, had they been rendered less complicate to perception at first, or had they not been framed at all, would never have existed. For instance, every poor man, when he marries, calmly makes up his mind, if he has a large family, to solicit the parish for weekly pay on the first necessity, and eventually become an inhabitant of the 7U RAMBLES IN LONDON. poorhouse. Entering into life with this expectation, he not only imbibes a servi- lity of ideas, incompatible with the dig- nity of human nature, but he gradually acquires a lazy propensity, at variance both with happiness and the acquisition of something comfortable for a rainy day. The prospect then is entirely before him, without one isolated object in it to awaken the expectation of further comforts, and he moves on to what he conceives to be his destiny, with apathetic feelings, but very little superior in general, and, in some instances, certainly inferior, to brutal in- stinct: but, let the reader suppose for one moment, that no poorhouse existed; that even parish pay were to be abolished ; and that on his own exertions alone, aided in manner as is hereafter stated, every poor man should rely, while those exer- tions could be continued, without subject- ing him to unnecessary hardships, or to tasks or labours beyond his power what would be the consequence? the stimulus RAMBLES IN LONDOX. 73 to exertion would be instantly increased, and the labourer would not only prove worthy of his hire, but he would do more ; he would strive a!so for the means of future independence. Under these circumstances a poor-house may be termed a national evil ; in as much as the poor man does not exert himself so much as he would do, if there were none to resort to. The workhouses of the poor should be their cottages ; where relief, whenever necessary, should be privately dispensed to them, and every reasonable comfort should be afforded for their accom- modation. By these means, the force of example could not operate so much, in creating that unblushing effrontery and daring importunity, which are now so frequently seen in the crouding throngs to a Sunday vestry; where each keeps the other in countenance, until their mutual wants are provided for, and then all join in a laugh at deceived credulity, for reliev- / RAMBLES IN LON'DOX. ing necessities which solely proceeded from n disinclination to labour. In giving the poor man an opportu- nity of acquiring an independence, com- mensurate with his wants, he gains, at the same time, a chance of happiness, mxc scarcely attainable. I0/. a year produced or sued by his own exertion. >s worth more than 40/. a year, dcri\r the gilts of others: the latter cin re" destroys the spirit of independence, or rather founds it on a false principle ; whereas the former increases and sustains it on its real basis : and, as nothing accumulates on the mind so much as property or wealth, a poor man, with a few pounds in store, or which he may bequeath to his posterity, i* as rich as Croesus. But, independent of the pleasure to be derived by a legislator, from administering such advantages to the lower classes, what advantages too would not the country d?- RAMBLES IN LONDON. lit rive from his benevolent measures? The respective linl.s of society -would still exist, separate as before, but only more assimilated to each other, by a compara- tive parity of comforts suitable to each ; and the ge;;-:ral dignity of the kingdom would naturally elevate itself on the considera- tions, that if the rich possessed their luxu- ries, the poor would c ujoy llicir comforts loo ; and that any blow, aimed either by a fo- reign or intestine foe., at the subversion of a government so fraught with advantages, both to the high and low, the rich and poor, should be generally resisted, or all might perish. Having adverted to the defects of a par- ticular system, it becomes requisite to point out a few remedies, which wight tend to ameliorate (hem; and these the writer submits to the consideration of his rea- ders, with an entreaty, that the weakness of theory may not be permitted to prejudice -L 2 76 HA MULES IN LONDON. the motives of patriotism, which alone in- duced him to give them utterance. 1st. All parifh poor and workhouses should be suppressed ; and parish pay, un- der its present form, entirely abolished. 2d. Every payer to the poor rates should be at liberty to contract with government, for their purchase for a certain period. 3d. Government should establish an office or company, to be called " The poor man's fund, or relief office or company," in which every application for relief to a parishioner from the clergyman, founded on an affidavit, to be transmitted regularly every fortnight, should be instantly at- tended to, by the necessary remittance ; and in which also, the poor should have the opportunity, by comparatively trifling payments, to be deducted by small de- grees out of their.allowancesor wages, and RAMBLES IN LONDON. 77 to be transmitted also by the clergyman, of insuring their lives for the benefit of their families,, or purchasing annuities, to commence at a certain age, say 56 years, when man's strength is on the wane, and more than usual comforts are required by nature. 4th. Of course, as the office would be instituted merely for charitable purposes, every part of the business, except that transacted by the junior clerks, should be purely gratuitous; as it cannot be ima- gined, for one moment, that the good and sympathising would expect any remune- ration, for services so essentially produc- tive of consequences, scarcely to be cal- culated, as to their immediate and ultimate benefits. 5th. In particular cases of merit or in- duftry, without applications for relief, sums should be allotted for the purchase of necessary articles of a durable nature, 78 UAMBLES IN LONDON. which should be characterised by some in- scription, relative to the motives of the gift, and descend,, like heir-looms, to the flder branch of the family. 6th. The agricultural societies in the different counties should be regular corres- pondents of the office, as they, next to the clergyman of a parish, have singular op- portunities of witnessing merit or peculiar industry, in the lower classes. 7th. His Majesty the King should be humbly solicited to patronize the office before-mentioned; for truly good and pi- ous as he is, the father of his people is the best patron that could be selected. 8th. All the poor laws, except those that relate to parish settlements, and other cir- tumstances of inferior parochial conse- quence, should be immediately repealed ; nnd the office, or company, should be char- tered, with the possession of every privilege RAMBLES IN LONDON. 79 that could tend to the great work of ame- lioration; by diffusing comforts and advan- tages unknown before, through every ra^ mification of ir.ferior society, 9th. As the word cure, the almost ob- solete name c.f a clergyman's beneficej implies not only a care of soul, but of body also ; it should be compulsory in each clergyman, (who might wish merely to preach the theory of benevolence, without setting an individual example of its prac- tice), to attend to the duties before-men- tioned ; and, on his being inducted to his liviiiir, to take a prescribed oath, that he will do so. 10th. The first persons in the kingdom, who are eminently possessed of virtue, useful talents, and general philanthrophy, should be members of the office or com- pany ; and should perform its duties, by monthly rotation, without fees, stipends, or rewards of any nature, except the grate- 80 RAMBLES IN LONDON 7 . ful nature of their task, if it can be termed one, which would amply repay them for all their trouble. llth. Pensions should be allowed to the widows and children of deceased poor men, in subservience to their powers of obtain- ing a livelihood ; and schools also should be established in every parish, for the instruction of the poor. RAMBLES IN LONDON. 81 CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS. IT is now my lot to bid adieu to the me- tropolis and the meridian of its pleasures, which have appeared to me more like the thoughtless sportings of ephemeral insects* than those of a nation, which is the sole counterpoise to Corsican ambition. During my residence in the foggy atmosphere of London, I have seen but little to recom- pense the fatigue of my researches, and that little has excited no appetite to seek for more, nor produced any conviction, that my country is likely to be, although it may be considerably, amended. With this impression, and I wish it were otherwise, I depart for my county; happily the bearer of some good tidings, that the M 82 RAMBLES IN LONDON. " veluti in speculum" of Covent-garden theatre is no longer extraordinarily ex- tended in its meaning, by scenes and exhi- bitions, which disgraced the empire ; and that the wretched remnant of a disastrous expedition is, at length, landed on the Bri- tish shores. Would to Heaven, I could add, that our ministers were vigorous and ac- tively disposed, and that some hopes might be rationally entertained of a general union of men and measures, for one common good, the salvation of England ! When I may see this, and I trust it will be speedily, I shall no longer despond, for, fain would I afford the meed of praise, if any thing praiseworthy should meet my no- tice : but, until that novel era in our poli- tics, the necessity of condemnation cannot be dispensed with. And now, ere I conclude, let me impress my countrymen with one serious truth, " that they cannot strengthen themselves RAMBLES IN LONDON. 83 too much, by sea or by land;" by such a state of preparation, the military virtues and the manly exercises may be kept alive, and the nation, which now seems immersed in debauchery, listlessness, and corruption, may think seriously, and be once more, what it has often been, the terror of Europe. Besides, even if England be doomed to fall, she should fall nobly, with arms in her hands, and exertions protracted, even to the last gasp : but, in the name of Hea- ven, my countrymen, do not precipitate her ruin; if her grave must be dug, let the enemy dig it; but do not take the spade from the workman's hand. AMICUS W, Lf wit, Printer, Paternoster-row, Londoi