nor, or Signora, laid the purses of the public under a contribution little less enor mous than the Income Tax, while individuals added present upon present, till the mere list amounted to as many sheets as a counsellor's brief-then, the South Sea Bubble infatuated the public; afterwards, the Bottle Conjuror-the whist lings of Signior Rossignol the sprawlings of the Fantoccini-the learned Pig-the Dancing Dogs-the patriotism of Jack Wilkes and the blessings of French Fraternity

duet of their ancestors of the nineteenth century!

But to narrate past events is a much easier task than to anticipate those yet fu ture: what our fathers have been we know; what our sons may be we can only foresee by anticipation. Nostradamus himself, had he lived to this day, would not have found all his predictions verified, and we cannot expect that a better date should attend our utterances-but, we add, in the convenient phraseology of our newspapers," time will shew; and," this deserves confirmation." Mr. Malcolm has had access to the va luable collection of miscellanies which

are

to

Cum multis aliis quæ nunc perscribere longum est. What a happy contrast does the present century, afford! When do we hear of gen-had been accumulated by Mr. John Ni, tlemen at a boxing match-Of Mother cholls; and we suppose, that we Shipton, on the now rationally-conducted consider this volume as the only portion of school of virtue? Of presents made to them now preserved, the general mass foreign singers,. beyond their bare salary? having perished in the fire which consumDoes not the most delicate integrity, in ed that gentleman's premises. [Vide Pa our happy times, keep party aloof from norama, Vol. III. p. 1311.] Not having the Places occupied by our Public Officers? ourselves examined Mr. N's collection, we Does not the manly steadiness of our know not whether we are justified in congentlemen, abhor the smallest portion of sidering the contents of this volume as frivolity Does not the modest appear deficient in judicious selection. Certain ance of our ladies betoken the very ice of it is, that we think it ought to have conchastityOr.if, by the influence of evil tained information of various kinds, that stars and irresistible fascination, we do not find in it, "As men of letters, we should have taken a pleasure in tracing the extensive spread of general literature during the course of the century, the prin cipal impulse of which, undoubtedly, was from London.

(For when weak women go astray The stars are more in fault than they) a ship does happen,-is not all the world alarmed at it as strange and unparalleled! sill something else charitably interposes, and attracts and engrosses conversation.

A few inadvertencies so early in the century, must not be suffered to operate in disparagement of our general position; nobody expects habits confirmed by hereditary descent, to be suddenly shaken off, and some have a leaven of the last century about them. Let those accelerations of improvement, which the prophetic, from what they behold already accomplished, affirm without doubt, must mark the progress of following years, and may be complete ere the century closes, prove the justification of our sentiments; and then Jet our predictions be fairly estimated. For who but the wilfully blind, can refuse to applaud the energy with which all ranks aspire to the sublimities of virtue? Who Can but pity the moralists of succeeding generations when, attempting by way of warning their pupils by examples, they shall'affect to select errors from the con

We should have hinted at the effect produced by the lucubrations of Addison and Steele; by the party writings of Mist, Fog, the Craftsman, Gazetteer, &c. by the institution of the Gentleman's Maga zine, which reached all parts of our island, and gave to the public mind a turn for in quiry and reading; a statement of the progress of Reviews, and other periodicals, might have been added to advantage,

The progress of the Arts too, might have engaged the pen of a writer, him self an artist. He would have found that Sculpture, though an art of slow growth in this country, yet made sensible progress. Engraving may be said to have been call ed into existence; Painting received a new life, especially the historical department of that art. Portrait painting was encou raged to a rage: Sir Godfrey Kneller, who died in 1723, left five hundred portraits unfinished; for which he had received pay ment in part; Vanloo saw crowds of

coaches throng his deor, as if it had been | Metropolis the first of European cities, we can expect only general and superficial accounts, on whatever other subjects engage bis pen.

the playhouse; and the man who kept the orderly list of applicants, expected a handsome fee for placing a name earlier on the list than its proper place, whereby impatience sometimes avoided a delay of six weeks.

We are, nevertheless, disposed to accept Mr. M.'s endeavours favourably: what be has done will be of use to suc ceeding historians, though he has not done all that we could have desired from him.. His first chapter describes the Persons of the Aborigines of London. He thinks their descendants degenerated, but reco

It is not now in the power of a single drapery painter, to throw the artists into confusion, by confining his labours to one or two principals: and now, no branch of art ean boast, as Seymour boasted, when he mortified the proud duke of So-vered their pristine beauty. He gives a merset beyond endurance, while painting portrait of one of his grace's horses, "I am a Seymour, too." On Architecture, Mr. M. does bestowpitals, which do so much honour to the few thoughts, but his article is meagre, and unsatisfactory; we do not think he has been familiar with the houses of the great, or that he has done justice to the superior accommodation now introduced into the dwellings of the middle classes. Even the tax on windows has been followed by some advantages which are not noticed by Mr. M.

history of the treatment of parish children, of the Foundling Hospital-the Welsh charity school, and other charities. We could have wished that the numerous hosmetropolis, had been, at least, enumerat ed; and if some account had been added of those half-public institutions which as sist greatly in alleviating the miseries of human life, within the extent of their in fluence, ander various names of benevo lent associations and societies, it would not only have thrown additional weight into the scale intended as a counterpoise to the Mr. M. with sufficient accuracy de- depravity of our city, but it might have scribes the extremely disgraceful and dan-afforded valuable suggestions to some fu gerous state of the streets before the new pavement was introduced, and he mentions the first notice of the commissioners for re-paving the streets of London in March, 1763 but we do not meet with the name of Spranger in his volume, or that of Hanway, although it ought not to be forgotten that the first hint of this longwanted improvement was derived from a work published by the former of those gentlemen in 1754; and that at the close of the same year Mr. Hanway published his First Letter to Mr. Spranger on his excellent Proposals for paving, cleansing, Lighting, &c. the Streets of Westminster.' The first act of parliament was passed in 1762, and was hastened by an accident that happened to the Speaker's carriage in passing through a narrow street. After experiment had been tried, by Comanis signers, several parishes obtained acts for the same purpose, and managed the busi-writer. We are, happily, acquainted with pess to greater advantage.

2. This may stand as an instance of our author's want of particularity, in the information he communicates. From the writer who could omit honourable mention of the early promoters of an improvement that has contributed to render the

ture philanthropist, who may wish to en large the sphere of their activity, Mr. M.'s second chapter relates anecdotes of depravity; to this succeeds a chapter on folly, then one on eccentricity; lotteries and benefit societies, follow; then-tumults, amusements, dress, architecture, ecclesiastical architecture; sculpture and painting, and the work concludes with a general sketch of the state of society in

London.

We should be glad if truth permitted to deny the accuracy of Mr. M ́'s de lineation of the latter subject: but we must affirm, that he has seen it in the least favourable light. To suppose that all journeymen are drunken, idle and disobedient, that all tradesmen are careless, affected and fashionable, that all noble men are extravagant, idle and debauched, may suit a satirist; but not an impartial

some of all ranks, who are truly honourable in their station; and perfect contrasts to Mr. M.'s description. We desire to correct the unfavourable sketch, which our author presents, by avowing our per suasion that it stands in need of being revised by means of a better view of bet

constable of Holborn, that there were in his division 7066 houses of which 1350 licenced and unlicenced, being about one house in 54. That in St. Giles's there were about 2000 houses and 506 gin shops, being above one house in four; besides about 82 twopenny honses of the greatest infamy, where gin was the principal liquor drank.'

An evil of almost equal magnitude was the multiplicity of quacks. Mr. M. has mentioned several. How the facetions Dr. Rock, who cured one disorder; and the wonderful Dr. Sibley, who cured all disorders, could escape him, we cannot tell: but we can tell, that Dr. Sibley's English style and orthography in his private letters, before he came to town, was altogether, sui generis. Mr. M. in a very illiberal paragraph, says he believes that only one hall of those belonging to the city companies is used for public worship we believe we are correct in enumerating, Founder's hall, Salter's hall, Haberdasher's ball, and perhaps Pinner's hall.

The following demi-official account of the dresses worn on occasion of the mar

riage of the Prince of Wales in 1736, is somewhat different from what would be necessary to describe the present costume.

:

ned, but, in general flat,, the hoops French, and the petticoats of a moderate length, and little sloped behind. The ladies were exceeding brilliant likewise in jewels, some had them in their necklaces and ear rings, others with diamond solitaires to pearl necklaces of three or four rows; some had necklaces of diamonds and pearls intermixed, but made up very broad; several had their gown sleeves buttoned with diamonds, others had diamond sprigs in their hair, &c. The ladies' shoes were exceeding rich, being either pink, white, or green silk, with gold or silver lace and braid all over, with low heeels, and low hind quarters, and low flaps, and abundance had large diamond shoe buckles.

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

This hint at white stockings will be understood by but few of our readers: the fact is, that coloured stockings, pink, blue, &c. were worn by ladies of character; while white stockings were one of the marks adopted by ladies who did not pique themselves on being inaccesible. Green stockings, being dyed with. verdi. gris, were supposed to occasion the cramp: blue stockings were esteemed salutary against the rheumatism.

If we recollect rightly, the British nation is under obligation to Voltaire for being the cause of abolishing the custom of

The ladies were variously dressed, though with all the richness and grandeur imaginable many of them had their heads dressed English of fine Brussels lace, of exceeding rich patterns, miade upon narrow wires, and small round rolls, and the hair pinned to large puff caps, and but a few without powder; some few had their hair curled down on the sides: pink and silver, white and gold, were the general knots wore. There were a vast number in Dutch heads, their hair curled down in short curls on the sides and behind; and some had their hair in large ringlets behind, all very much powdered, with ribbands frilled on their heads variously disposed, and some had diamonds set on rib-giving vales to servants-what little merit bands on their heads; laced tippets were pretty general, and some had ribbands between the frills; treble laced ruffles were universally worn, though abundance had them not tacked up. The gowns were gold stuffs, or rich silks with gold or silver flowers, or pink or white silks, with either gold or silver netts, or trimmings; the sleeves to the gowns were middling (not so short as formerly) and wide, and their facings and robings broad; several had ounced sleeves and petticoats, and gold or silver fringe set on the flounces; some had stomachers of the same sort as the gown, others had large bunches of made flowers at their breasts; the gowns were variously pin

that man had, we would not deny him. Mr. M. does not mention his name on this subject, neither does he tell us that the servants constantly locked the door, and took the key into the kitchen, till their own dinner was over; to prevent the guests from escaping.

Mr. M. hints at the mischiefs arising from the number of fairs, formerly held in and near London. He mentions Horn fair at Charlton; and Edmonton' fair he might have added Bow Fair, Peckham fair, and others still subsisting; besides Southwark fair, May, fair, and several

Richmond, £50 each; Colonel Paget,"230; and Lady Rich, £20, &c. &c. The pit was filled at four o'clock; and as the stage war crowded with beauty and fashion, no scenes were used during the performance gilt leas ther hangings were substituted, which usual ly adorned that part of the theatre at Ridottos. Many of the songs in the Opera were new that which preceded the chorus was composed by Farinelli, and so vehemently applauded, that he sung it a second time at the request of the audience, though the chorus was over, chestra.

now abolished. "Bartholomew fair is hap-more, Lord Burlington, and the Duke of pily reduced from three weeks to three days: were it totally suppressed the city would lose nothing of its respectability. By means of the abstract of his indict ment Mr. M. has made a passable article of Jonathan Wild. It is probable that, he did not know, that a succeeding tenant of his house on Ludgate hill, being engaged in repairing it, happened to be on the spot, overlooking the workmen when they were taking down the cieling of the privy. Suddenly he observed something fall, which proved to be a gold watch :He instantly sent the workmen to their dinner; and when they returned, the cieling was completely demolished. This tenant afterwards found his trade very profitable, and left off with a fortune.

Dawks's News letter of April 2, 1713, has the following article: Yesterday a trial of skill was fought at the Bear garden between Henry Clements and Parks of Coventry, where there was good sport, hacking and hewing. It is thought they got £50 apiece, the French ambassador being there, and give ing them money very liberally." Soon after three bouts at threshing flail were an nounced; and a flourish of "no cut no bout."

pe

The proprietors of the Boarded House Soho advertised a savage entertainment for the 21st of May, 1717. They had, during the riod between the baiting of the leopard and May 21, refined upon cruelty to the very acme, and were ready to exhibit an African tiger on a stage four feet high, worried by six bull and bear dogs, for £100; a mad bull, and a bear, both covered with fire works; and, lest those pleasant spectacles should fail to amuse, six young men were to play at blunts in other words he that broke

most heads obtained a hat.

and

One of the follies of 1728, was the performance of the Beggar's Opera at the theatre in Lincoln's -fields by children, that the childish exhibition might be said ported in all its branches, the managers contrived to send a book of the songs across the stage by a flying cupid to Frederic Prince of Wales.

and the musicians had retired from the bor

this favourite singer, with a richly wrought The Prince of Wales soon after presented gold snuff box set with rubies and diamonds, containing a pair of diamond knee buckles, and a purse of 100 guineas.

The ridiculous custom of placing two centinels on the stage, during the performance of plays, was not discontinued in the above year, as a soldier employed for that purpose highly entertained an audience in October by laughing at the character of Sir Andrew Ague-cheek in Twelfth Night, till he actually fell convulsed upon the floor.

Mr. M. might have added that in a prologue spoken by her, in the character of a soldier, Mrs. Woffington, had occasion to shake one of the centinels by the hand, to the infinite amusement of the loyal audience.

Mr. M.'s article on dress is amusing but it is not all it might have been. He does not insert any explanation of the names of dresses, or of their parts, most of which were derived from the French. Should a future Strutt, desire to know the meaning of Negligée, Pet en l'air, Bruns wick, or Teresa, he will derive no assistance from this volume. What an English Night Hot say: we doubt whether he knows the gown, as a full dress was, Mr. M does distinction between a Sacque and a Mantua: at least his prints do not mark his knowledge. He does not even hint at row over row of gold lace, worn by the ladies on their petticoats, the under one being the longest. Chignons and Toupees Farinelli engaged to perform fifty nights he passes over, also, unnoticed. Had he during the season of 1734-5, for a salary of described the Head Dress à ta Téte de 1.500 guineas and a benefit. At this benefit Mouton, or that en Papillon; had he exthe theatre was so contrived as to accommo-plained what was intended by hair in date 2,000 spectators, whose admission money, added to the following sums, giving by the nobility, amounted to more than £2,000. The Prince of Wales, 200 guineas; the Spanish Ambassador, £100, the Imperial, 50; the Duke of Leeds, the Countess of Port

crape (Crepée)-en Avocat, &c. he might have laid readers for ages to come under obligations to him. Had he stated the conflict of the Carlo Khan colours and cut of the clothes, versus the Windsor