I suppose that one can become accustomed to everything. But the gibbets which one saw stuck up everywhere, along the Edgeware Road, on the river-side, on Blackheath, on Hampstead Heath, or Kennington Common, must have been an unpleasing sight. Some of the gibbets remained until early in this century. [Illustration: VAUXHALL] The subject of beer is of world-wide importance. It must be understood that all through the century the mystery of brewing was continually advancing. We finally shook off the heresies of broom, bay-berries, and ivy-berries as flavoring things for beer; we perfected the manufacture of stout. There sprang up during the century what hardly existed before--a critical feeling for beer. It may be found in the poets and in the novelists. Goldsmith has it; Fielding has it. There were over fifty brewers in London, where, as a national drink, it entirely displaced wine. The inns vied with each other in the excellence of their tap, "Where the Red Lion, staring o'er the way, Invites each passing stranger that can pay; Where Calvert's broth and Parsons' black champagne Regale the drabs and bloods of Drury Lane." There were many houses where every night there was singing and playing, to the accompaniment of beer alone; and there was at least one famous debating club--the Robin Hood--where stout was the only drink permissible. Here are one or two notes of domestic interest. The washing of the house was always done at home. And, which was a very curious custom, the washer-woman began her work at midnight. Why this was so ordered, I know not; but there must have been some reason. During the many wars of the century wheat went up to an incredible price. One year it was 104s. a quarter, so that bread was three times as dear as it is at present. Housewives in those times cut their bread with their own hands, and kept it until it was stale. If you wanted a place under Government, you could buy one; the sum of £500 would get you a comfortable berth in the Victualling Office, for instance, where the perquisites, pickings, and bribes for contracts made the service worth having. Members of Parliament, who had the privilege of franking letters, sometimes sold the right for £300 a year. Ale-houses were marked by chequers on the door-post--to this day the Chequers is a common tavern sign. Bakers had a lattice at their doors. All tradesmen--not servants only, but master tradesmen--asked for Christmas-boxes. The Fleet weddings went on merrily. There was great feasting on the occasion of a wedding, duly conducted in the parish church. On the day of the wedding the bridegroom himself waited on bride and guests. If the married couple were city people, they were regaled after the ceremony with the marrow-bones and cleavers--perhaps the most delectable music ever invented. It was also costly, because the musicians wanted drink, and plenty of it, as well as money.