London in Modern Times: or, Sketches of the English Metropolis during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.Unknown
History
London in Modern Times: or, Sketches of the English Metropolis during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.
Unknown
London (England) -- History -- 17th century; London (England) -- History -- 18th century
Turning to look for a moment at the opposite extreme of society, it is
delightful to mark the improvement which had there taken place. While
drawing-rooms and levees were held as before, though less frequent, the
former being confined to once a week; while equipages of similar
fashion as formerly continued to roll through the parks, Piccadilly,
and the Mall; while the costumes and habits of courtiers exhibited no
great variation; while theatres, and other places of amusement, were
frequented by the fashionables; while gossiping calls in the morning,
and gay parties at night, were the common and every-day incidents of
West-end life--a very obvious improvement arose in the morals and
general tone of feeling of people about court, in consequence of the
exemplary and virtuous character of George III. and Queen Caroline.
Fond of quiet and domestic repose, retiring into the bosom of their
family, surrounded by a few favorite dependents, encouraging a taste
for reading and music, and ever frowning upon vice in all its forms,
they exerted a powerful influence upon those around them, and turned
the palace into a completely different abode from what it had been in
the time of the earlier Georges. Religion, too, if not in its earnest
spirituality, yet in its decorous observances and its moral bearings,
was maintained and promoted, both by royal precept and example. The
monarch and his family were accustomed to attend regularly upon the
services in the chapel attached to St. James's Palace.
The revival of religion in London, to which we adverted in a former
chapter, produced permanent results. During the last half of the
century, Christian godliness continued to advance. Whitefield's
labors, as often as he visited the metropolis, produced a deep
impression on the multitudes who, in chapels or the open air, were
eager to hear him. Whitefield died in America, but a monument is
erected to his memory in Tottenham-court Chapel, the walls of which
often echoed with his fervid oratory. Wesley's exertions were
prolonged till the year 1792. After a life of most energetic effort in
the cause of Christ, this remarkable man expired at his house in
London, 1791, in the eighty-eighth year of his age.
The countess of Huntingdon, Whitefield's early friend, exerted in
London a powerful religious influence, "scattering the odors of the
Saviour's name among mitres and coronets, and bearing a faithful
testimony to her Divine Master in the presence of royalty itself." She
has left behind her in the metropolis two remarkable proofs of her
religious liberality and zeal, in Zion and Spafields Chapels, both of
which she was the means of transforming out of places of amusement into
houses for the service and praise of God.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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