Picturesque Sketches of London, Past and PresentMiller, Thomas
Philosophy
Picturesque Sketches of London, Past and Present
Miller, Thomas
London (England) -- Description and travel
you are sitting, and congratulating yourself that you have escaped so
well, up comes a cab-horse with his head through the open door, and his
hot nostrils on your face. A few rough compliments are exchanged between
the cab-driver and the conductor, during which something is said about
the glanders, which haunts you for days after; the more so through your
nose being red and raw by grazing it against the wall when the thief ran
away with your watch. To what quarter the omnibus is going gives you no
concern, for you are glad to get any where to be out of the way on such
a day. Great, however, is your indignation, after having been carried
some three-score yards, to find that you are at the Cross Keys, in
Fleet-street, having got in at the corner of Bride-court, and that the
omnibus goes no farther. You pay your threepence with a protest, and are
thankful that you cannot see the passengers, who are laughing at you.
You have, however, the satisfaction of seeing a heavy old gentleman
plant one foot into a basket of oranges on the edge of the pavement, and
that puts you into a little better humour, especially when, at the next
step, he plunges his head into the window of a book-shop, and knocks
down the middle of three rows of richly-bound volumes, besides smashing
no end of panes of glass.
On such a day the man who milks his cow in the street is compelled to
lay hold of her tail, for fear of losing sight of her; while the
butcher-boy who carries out meat is often minus a joint or two when he
reaches the door at which his orders ought to have been delivered.
Should such a day be Smithfield market, all the cellar-flaps in the
little by-streets are left open, in the hopes of catching a few stray
sheep, and having a stock of mutton for nothing; should a prize bullock
tumble in, they make no bones of him, but salt down what is left, and
bless the fog for supplying them with so much excellent beef.
A stranger to London, when the fog sets in at night, and he looks upon
it for the first time, fancies his apartments filled with smoke, and
begins by throwing open his doors and windows; thus making bad worse, by
destroying all the warm air in the rooms. Even one well accustomed to
the ins and outs of our far-stretching city is strangely deceived in
distance, and the size objects assume, as they loom in dim and gigantic
dimensions through the heavy fog. The gas-lamps appear as if placed
three-story high, unless you stand close beneath them, for what light
they emit is nearly all thrown upward; while a cab comes heaving up (to
appearance) as large as the huge caravan which Wombwell formerly used
for the conveyance of his stupendous elephant. Once take a wrong
turning, and you may consider yourself very fortunate if you ever
discover the right road again within three hours; for the houses wear a
different appearance, and the streets appear to be all at "sixes and
sevens."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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