Rukfor watking in crowded Streets. [Aug. 1, 



34 



And (his the French were tanglit to 

 believe was Ensrlish hiw, till Sh' Richard 

 Phillips's admirahle work on Juries 

 found its way to Trance. It is now 

 translating by one of the most celebrated 

 Trencli lawyers, who is a member of the 

 Chamber of Deputies; and we may ex- 

 pect, ill the course of the next session, 

 that this palladinm of onr rights, the 

 trial by jury, will be properly known 

 and acted upon in France also. 



To the Editor of the Monthlt/ Magazine. 



SIR, 



IN these -times of almost licenced im- 

 morality, it has become a crime in 

 itself to animadvert with due severity 

 ©n any measures that, however at vari- 

 ance with the strict rnles of honour and 

 integrity, are connected with tlie acfjui- 

 sition of wealth; and a host of hireling 

 jcriblers are ever at the command of 

 their employers to deal out their artful 

 and plausible invectives against any 

 well meant endeavonrs to i)ut the un- 

 vary on their guard. Something too 

 much of this kind of argument, if it 

 deserve such a term, seems, of late, to 

 have occupied the pages of your valu- 

 able Miscellany, in attempts to palliate 

 the conduct of bankrupt bankers, gam- 

 bling farmers, and extortionate land- 

 lords; to whom, in connexion with some 

 other circmnstanccs, that it is not ne- 

 cessary, or even prudent, to enlarge on. 

 the country is almost exclusively in- 

 debted for the very awful and uncertain 

 predicament in which it is placed. The 

 jnanly castigalioii that your truly honest 

 and excellent correspondent, Mr. Pren- 

 dergast, had inflicted on one of the abovo 

 classes, has excited some ill-timed re- 

 marks on the part of one of your cor- 

 respondents, who might, indeed, have 

 contented himself with distinguishing 

 the bankers of real honour, of tried and 

 established integrity, and of solid pro- 

 perty, as all persons should be to whom 

 tnoney is entrusted for safe custody, from 

 the jobbers of land and commercitd spe- 

 culators with other men's property; who 

 Jiave, of late years, been enabled to mo- 

 nopolize estates, and Contributed, among 

 other causes, to advaucc land to an 

 oppressive and unnatural value. The 

 facilities, likewise, by means of these 

 notes, a mode of coining money by in- 

 dividuals that no legislature sh-auld 

 tolerate where it can be proiiented, 

 which- *^havc been obtained by farmers 

 and other dealers in the necessaries of 

 life, Imve enabled them to keep up the 

 Juices of giaia v^A ctrftlc, for Uie pui-- 



pose of making good the payment of 

 increased and excessive rents to th« 

 owners of the soil; and which, other- 

 wise, could not have been maintained 

 to the consequent and enormous ang- 

 mcnlalioii of national evils, influenciiisj 

 the price of labour, and eventually dc- 

 tcrioraliiig commerce of every kind, 

 botii at home and abroad. Had the 

 people acted with due wis<!om, and pe-» 

 net rated (he motives and the consfr« 

 qucnce of these measures, they Avould, 

 probably, have adopted the remedy that 

 was actually in their own hands, and 

 which no Corn-Bills, or other attempts 

 to support enormous rents, coidd hav« 

 prevented : and this was to have stopped 

 the circulation of the unreal money of 

 these speculating banks, by refusing it in 

 payment. Unfortunately, the conduct 

 and continuation of the late unhappy 

 and truly alllicting war, wen; involved 

 in these matters. The eyes of all begin 

 now to be opened, but the mischief is 

 accomplished. q p 



Juhj 10, 1816. • * 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magaeiiir^ 



SIR, 



ON my aniTal in this great town, 

 after an absence of several years, 

 I was surprised, and somewhat con- 

 cerned, to observe that, an old and useful 

 rule, or rather tacit convention, amonj 

 pedestrians in the streets, has almost be- 

 come obsolete, and at a time when its 

 observance, from tlie increased popu- 

 lation, has become the more necessary. 

 I mean that of taking the right iiand 

 side of the path, or foot-way, in the 

 same manner as the drivers of carriages 

 take the left of the road. 



There seems to be some reason for 

 the custom in both cases. In that of 

 the person on foot, it leaves his right 

 arm, caiTying his stick, umbrella, &c. 

 at full liberty, without incommoding 

 himself or the person he meets : in that 

 of a carriage, the- driver has the reins 

 in his left hand, which is thereJjy kept 

 free, and, the whip being in his right, it 

 is easier in passing another carriage to 

 aid the ofl' horse with the lash, and thus 

 be sure of clearing the hind wheels; 

 but the practice has, probably, ori- 

 ginated with the drivers of carts and 

 waggons who are on foot, to the left or. 

 near side of their horses, and could not 

 pass another vehicle on the contrary sid« 

 witliont personal danger. 



From Temple-bar, indeed, and ia 



some of the narrow parts of the Strand,' 



as fsur as Corttliill, tlie luajoiity of the 



pajiscogcrs^ 



