30 
of this, they prefer the moft mife- 
rable cottage hired in their own 
name, to more convenient apart- 
ments in another houfe. 
From this proceeds the great 
number of houfes in London, which, 
on this very account, are as five te 
three in proportion to thofe of 
Paris, where all the inhabitants live 
heaped upon one another. 
‘The national charater is difco- 
vered in this very circumitance. 
It often happens, that a man has 
nothing in his little houfe, but a 
bed, a table, and fome chairs; and 
yet, in quality of a houv/ekeeper, he 
procures a certain degree of credit, 
and no one makes any difficulty in 
trufting him. ‘The butchers, the 
bakers, the taylors, the fhoe-makers, 
&e. &c. furnith him with whatever 
he may ftand in need of, without 
requirin® ready money; people in 
good circumitances generally make 
them wait till Chriftmas: a fhorier 
time is however.fixed for the poor ; 
and whenever the debt amounts to 
the fum of* forty fhillings, the 
creditor has a right to arreft the 
debtor. 
Nothing is more eafy than this. 
He goes to the sheriffs’ office, where 
there is generally no other perfon 
than a clerk; he informs him of 
his bufinefs, and afks for a writ. 
The clerk, whofe duty it is to 
diftribute thefe writs without mak- 
ing any inquiry, receives his fee, 
after having frft made him kifs 
the bible, the ufual manner of tak- 
ing an oath in England. 
The. bailiffs, of whom I .made 
mention in the preceding chapter, 
are afterwards employed, in virtue 
of their office, to arreit the debtor. 
The people deteft thefe men; and 
life, an 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1790. 
it is ii natural, for they lead a lazy 
inhabit good houfes, which 
ferve as temporary prifons. The 
creditor carries the writ to one of 
thefe, and gives him inftructions. 
‘The bailiff conveys the prifoner. to 
his houfe, where he remains for 
twenty-four hours: during this time, 
he makes ufe of every art, either to 
fettle the matter, or procure bail. 
If an accommodation does not take 
place in that time, the officer con- 
duéts him to prifon: a fee however, 
properly applied, will often procure 
an indulgence for feveral days. 
As there are two prifons, called 
the King’s Bench ‘and the Fleet, 
which are peculiar to England, and 
have nothing fimilar to them in 
Europe, they ufually make choice 
of one of thefe. The latter is 
fituated in the middle of the city; 
the other in St. George’s Fields. 
No traveller that I am acquainted 
with, has ever given a particular 
account of thefe fingular and un- 
common gaols.. They never, in- 
deed, have been mentioned among 
-us but in fome Englifh romances, 
which are very juftly rejected as fo 
many fictions and improbabilities, 
So true it is, that we have only a 
few vague ideas of a nation con- 
cerning which we never ceafe to 
{peak ; which we endeavour to 
imitate in almoft every thing, and 
which is fo very nearto us, 
It may be faid, that thefe prifons 
are two republics exifting in the 
bofom of the metropolis, and en- 
tirely independent of it. ‘The fitu- 
ation and the largenefs of the firft 
render it more commodious than 
the other. Its boundaries are 
marked by a wall, which contains 
a prodigious extent of ground, 
* By a Jate agt,no one can be arrefted for any debt below the fum of ten pounds, 
8 
Within 
