On June 19, 1829, the King said "Le Roi le veult" to an Act of Parliament (10 Geo. IV. c. 44) entitled "An Act for improving the Police in and near the Metropolis"--the present Police Act--introduced by Sir Robert Peel, from which fact the policemen were called "Bobbies" and "Peelers." They commenced duty on September 29, 1829, and were, at first, extremely unpopular, because of their strictness, compared to the Bow Street runners, patrols, and night watchmen. The parishes complained bitterly of the increased expense, but they forgot how much better they were guarded. It was also alleged that there were too few policemen distributed over certain districts, and too many in others; but that was a defect in administration almost certain to occur at first start, which experience afterwards rectified. Perhaps, also, the best men were not chosen, as the force was not so popular as now, when none but men of unblemished character are admitted, whilst as to the present physique of the over fifteen thousand Metropolitan Police, any general would be proud of such a division, which is utterly unattainable in any army. Here is a sketch of the uniform of the "New Police" as they were called, copied from a satirical print of Sir Robert Peel, by the celebrated H. B. (John Doyle, father of Richard Doyle, to whom _Punch_ owed so much). The hats were worn until a comparatively recent period, and in summer-time they wore white trousers. [Illustration: New Police.] The following extract from the _Times_ of September 16th gives an account of the police as they were at the expiration of twelve months from their inauguration:-- "There are 16 divisions of the police, and each division contains, on an average, 200 men, except the K division, which contains 32; there are also, in each division, six inspectors and one superintendent. The whole number of privates and sergeants alone amounts to 3600, without reckoning the inspectors and superintendents. The greater part of this large body of men were necessarily taken from the lower classes of the people, and it can readily be believed that the Commissioners were unable to make strict inquiry into every individual case, and yet there have been very few _bona fide_ cases of improper behaviour on the part of the men. In each division there is a defaulter-book, in which the names of the men considered unfit for duty are written down and shown to the Commissioners, and they are immediately discharged." The subjoined advertisement, which is singular, from the modesty of its diction, appeared in the _Times_ of September 15th, and, as in the scheme of this book there is no special place set apart for such, it may as well come in here in order of chronology.