106 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2''<' S. VIII. Aug. 6, '5&. 



readers. The paper is endorsed, " Monsieur Sul- 

 lacombe's Proposition for cleansing y" Streets of 

 London," and is dated at the close» " London, f 4- 

 Dec. 1670." The author sets out by assuming as 

 an indisputable fact the foul condition of the me- 

 tropolitan streets, and then proceeds to answer by 

 anticipation the arguments which would be urged 

 against his sanitary reform by the Tory legisla- 

 tors of the period : — 



" It is ti-ue," he observes, " that when I begin to repre- 

 sent this matter publiquely, it may be replyd to me, That 

 if too day y« Streets were all made clean, too morrow you 

 shall see them as bad as before ; But as this was y" same 

 Objection w"'* with great heat was made to me at Paris, so 

 I have still sufficient Reasons to gain this Point. I have 

 said it there, and I saj' y« same now here, That this Ob- 

 jection is not at all available : for should we say. If you 

 wash your hands your Feet and your Linnen too day 

 they shall be dirty too morrow, ought not they therefore 

 to be washd at all ? The Reason is quite contrary, for 

 ever}' one is obliged to make clean every day that w^"* is 

 subject to be fowle, if they would not have all to be 

 stinking and unclean." 



So much for the objectors to our reformer's 

 project, which is briefly this : — He proposes that 

 the same plan should be adopted in London as in 

 Holland — 



" Where every Family makes clean y^ street before his 

 House, and that w'='> this People doe by natarall Inclina- 

 tion, and without Constraint, ought to be introduced 

 here bj- Sovereign ord"", because it concerns y^ Common 



good By this I intend. That in all y^ great 



Streets this ord"^ may be observd, That as farr as y" front 

 of each house extends the Inhabitants shall keep a Pave- 

 ment neat and clean of three paces in Length before y" 

 ^ House to the Street, which is as much as those that 

 walke on foot can desire. And that for seeing this fully 

 elFected, som officers may be appointed daily to goe y^ 

 rounds in their severall quarters at a certain houre every 

 morning, according to the Season of the year, uppon a 

 penalty to be inflicted on them as it is now in Practise at 

 Paris, where that Town is in this kind greatly accommo- 

 dated." 



Our modern district boards and street orderlies 

 are not improvements greatly in advance of Mons. 

 Sullacombe's suggestions. He proceeds to throw 

 out another hint, which has since been adopted in 

 our workhouse system, namely, that if domestic 

 servants cannot be employed in street-cleaning, it 

 would be easy and advantageous to supply tbeir 

 place by some of the " stout and sturdy Beggars, 

 ■who swarm in these two Cities in such vast num- 

 bers, that a man can scarsely save himselfe from 

 their Importunity — and there wants nothing else 

 but to furnish them with Water and Brooms." 

 He illustrates this suggestion by " a pleasant ex- 

 ample in a modern Town of y^ Low Coiintries 

 {Spanish Netherlands), which finding itselfe over- 

 whelmed by an insufferable number of these 

 Rogues within y® Town and without, very much 

 incommoded by a high Mountain that hindred 

 their Fortifications, they made a great part of 

 those Eogues worke by force, fastning them with 

 Chaines of Iron to y" Wheelbarrowes, and this for 



5 solz a day well payd ; By vi"^ meanes it not 

 onely came to pass that they that workd were in 

 a short time freed from the disgrace they lay 

 under, but y^ Town was freed of all y" rest ; for 

 they, flying from worke as from y" mouth of a 

 Cannon, and being still disposd to Idleness, 

 quitted this Quarter as if they had bin drove 

 away by the Plague." The dirt and refuse re- 

 moved from the pavement, Mons. Sullacombe 

 suggests, should be regularly carried away by "y" 

 Dungcarts appointed for that end ;" and the pro- 

 fit arising from the sale of " these Imraundities 

 may in some measure serve for gratifying the said 

 officers." He proceeds to enlarge upon the ad- 

 vantages of his project at some length, and closes 

 with a suggestion that the " old ill kind of Pave- 

 ment, with small sharp stones," then used in the 

 streets, should be changed for a regular paving, 

 with " stones well cutt for this purpose as is par- 

 ticularly seen at Anvers," &c. Such a pavement, 

 he is glad to observe, is occasionally seen in Lon- 

 don, " in severall places about Whitehall, and par- 

 ticularly all along y" King's Garden between y® 

 two Gates over against y" Cockpitt." In reply to 

 an anticipated objection that a sufficient quantity 

 of suitable paving-stones cannot be obtained in 

 England, he recommends the adoption of " that 

 sort of Bricke which wee call Clinchart, that is to 

 say sounding Brick, because, if you throw it on 

 y® ground, its great hardness makes it resound as 

 a clock of which wee are capable to fur- 

 nish successively a great quantity." The dura- 

 bility of this material he considers amply proved 

 by its use "at y^ Court of y« Palace of y'= Hague, 

 where it hath continued above 60 yeares, millions 

 of Coaches passing over it, and is at this day in a 

 very good condition." The language of the let- 

 ter is unusually idiomatic for a foreigner, but the 

 last sentence is unmistakeably of French con- 

 struction : — 



" In all that is above said there is nothing impossible, 

 if you will ; and, for my part, I know not why j'ou Avill 

 not. But I well know y^ Reasons why you shuld doe it, 

 when that thing shall be y« last difficulty of w<^'' I think 

 I have shewn you y" contrary." 



The interest of the subject, and the quaintness 

 of its treatment, must form my apology for the 

 length of these extracts. 



Is anything known of Mons. Sullacombe as a 

 ■practical sanitary reformer ? H. G. H. 



Raymond Buildings, Gray's Inn. 



Alexander Pope's Chair. — Having occasion to 

 visit Audley End in December, 1852, the late 

 Lord Braybrooke directed my attention to a 

 notable relic of Alexander Pope standing in the 

 library, namely, a narrow-backed arm-chair of 

 curious workmanship, containing a central medal- 



