Tarpeian rock; there praise or blame is awarded to a Burdett issuing triumphantly from the Tower, or to a Castlereagh descending amidst curses to the tomb.... There are no rows in these taverns ... more decency of conduct is observed in them than in our [Italian] churches. When full of spirit and beer the customers, instead of fighting, fall down on the pavement like dead men.’ After having so carefully observed the conduct of the British workman, our Italian friend watches him in the suburban tea-garden, which he visits with his family to take tea in the afternoon, or drink his nut-brown ale. ’One of the handsomest,’ he says, ’is Cumberland Gardens,[#] close to Vauxhall ... there he sits smoking long pipes of the whitest clay, which the landlord supplies, filled with tobacco, at one penny each. Between his puffs of smoke he occasionally sends forth a truncated phrase, such as we read in "Tristram Sandi" [_sic_] were uttered by Trion and the captain. It being Sunday, which admits of no amusement, no music or song is heard.’ Pretty much as it is at the present day! [#] In the early part of 1825, therefore shortly after our author wrote, the tavern was burnt to the ground, and the site taken possession of by the South London Waterworks. Having heard what both Frenchmen and an Italian had to say about London, let us listen to what a German authoress has to tell us on the subject. Johanna Schopenhauer, in her ’Travels through England and Scotland’ (third edition, 1826), says: ’The splendid shops, which offer the finest sights, are situate chiefly between the working City and the more aristocratic, enjoying Westminster,’ a statement which, as every Londoner knows, is only partially correct. ’The English custom of always making way to the right greatly facilitates walking, so that there is no pushing or running against anyone.’ Did our author ever take a walk in Cheapside or Fleet Street? ’Even Italians probably do not fear rain so much as a Londoner; to catch a wetting seems to them the most terrible misfortune; on the first falling of a few drops everyone not provided with an umbrella hastens to take refuge in a coach.’ How well the lady has studied the habits of Londoners! What will they say to this? ’The police exercise a strict control over hackney-coaches. Woe to the driver who ventures to over-charge!’ And again: ’You may safely enter, carrying with you untold wealth, a coach at any time of the night, as long as someone at the house whence you start takes the number of the coach, and lets the driver see that it is taken.’