SO® LON 
We are happy to add, that it is intended, when the 
peace is entirely fettled, farther to reward thofe who have 
fo nobly laboured to fecure it, by an addition of one-third 
to the half-pay of retiring officers in the army and navy. 
Arid we are informed, that the workmen in the dock¬ 
yards are not to be fuddenly reduced in number : the di¬ 
minution by deaths and luperannuation, together with 
difcharges for idlenefs and other bad behaviour, are tp be 
relied on for bringing the yards to a peace-eftablifliment. 
To conclude.—The great events we have been narrat¬ 
ing, have come to pals under the guidance of a miniftry 
of no thining talents. Indeed fo much the contrary, that 
we have feen the parliament prorogued for three whole 
months in the middle of a felfion, (p. 373.) and on its re- 
afiembling appearing to avoid every important difcuflion, 
every thing beyond mere rcutine-bufmefs—on account of 
the abfsnce of one man, a man who was looked upon by 
his colleagues, in i 3 oo, as totally unfit for office ! See 
p. 212.—Another remarkable circumftance in the prefent 
afpect of the political world, Teems to be the extinction 
of all the great political luminaries of the la[t age, with¬ 
out the appearance of any equal lights to fucceed them. 
Pitt is no more. That proud integrity, which extorted 
panegyrics even from his enemies ; thofe views of foreign 
policy, which were generally found, though fometimes mif- 
applied through a too-fanguine calculation ; that know¬ 
ledge of finance and political economy, which has not 
been paralleled by any modern ftatefman ;—thefe can no 
longer fway the public councils ; nor could they now be 
feconded by the ltrong fenfe, the force of character, and 
indefatigable application, of tire firlt lord Melville. No 
longer, on the other hand, does the fame torrent of elo¬ 
quence flow from the oppofition-benches, as when Fox, 
and Burke, and Sheridan, were in their prime ; when the 
forcible argument of the one, the impetuous declamation 
of the'other, and the brilliant wit of the third, were dif- 
phyed in full array, on the theatre of the Britifh parlia¬ 
ment. Of all thefe, Sheridan alone remains, and remains 
the mere ihadow of his former felf.—The abfence of this 
eonftellation of talent has certainly dimmed the luitre of 
the Britifh fenate, and rendered its character lefs impoflng 
in the eyes of Europe. Yet has it not, perhaps, on the 
whole, produced an unfavourable efFeci upon the public 
mind. It has broken thofe chains of mental fubmiflion, 
by which the inhabitants of this country were formerly 
enthralled. The anathema laid on ail who diflented, even 
in a trifling degree, from the opinions of Pitt or of Fox, 
is in a great meafure removed. Men do not conflder 
themfelve^as under a necellity fo abfolute, of becoming 
bound to either of the contending parties ; and, when 
they do attach themfelves, they ftill referve fome liberty 
of judgment upon individual queftions.—-The prelent mi- 
nilters are not men of Alining abilities; but they are plain 
practical men, diligently doing what they apply them- 
ielves to ; and, we really believe, fincerely feeking, to 
their bell judgment, the public welfare. They have 
availed themfelves of profperous circumftances with vi¬ 
gour and promptitude, without being betrayed by them 
into extravagant and romantic projects. 
GENERAL SURVEY of BUILDINGS, STREETS, 
and ANTIQUITIES-. 
The wings of time move with a much fwifter flight 
than the pen of the hiltorian. Unable to keep pace with 
the rapid lucceflion of events, the chronicler wonders at 
being left fo far behind, and to find himfelf defcribing 
the pafi when he had thought toarreft and fix the prefent. 
Teeming with important circumltances, every day brings 
forth new matter ; and the writer hardly knows where to 
hop. This is the cafe with all works of the nature of our 
•publication; and we mult therefore conform with the ge- . 
neral ufage and cultom laid down by our predecefibrs in 
this department of ufefui literature. Having brought the 
annals of Britifli hiftory, mediately or immediately con- 
jiefted with the hitlory of the metropolis, down to the 
DON. 
prefent happy moment of peace, we intend now to draw 
the attention of our readers to a Survey of this noble ca¬ 
pital of the united empire. And here we find ourfelves 
again furrounded with nearly the fame, and as many, dif¬ 
ficulties as we were in our fituation of hiftoriographers ; 
for the fame wafting power which piles rapidly days upon 
days, years upon years, exercifes its influence with e- 
qual tyranny and velocity upon the works of man : fo 
that, when the perambulator who pafies before a monu¬ 
ment, and notes it down, pafies again the next day, he 
finds it no more: Tranjivi, et ecce non erat ; “I went by, 
and it was gone.” This is the reafon why defcriptions 
of ancient buildings, no longer in exiftence or mouldering 
out of lhape, are become fo interelling, fo precious. They 
arreft the ravages of the great leveller of all, and give a 
fort of immortality to mortal things. Under what obliga¬ 
tion are we not to the draftfmen, painters, and engravers,, 
of the 15th and 16th centuries, when the arts began to 
awake from their {lumbers, for their attention and care in 
fixing on wood or copper the true likenefs, the vera effi¬ 
gies , of men, edifices, and other cadent and deciduous 
iubjects, which would have been loft to memory for ever! 
Thefe confiderations have aftuated us to give in our writ¬ 
ten and engraved defcriptions, objeffs which are even now 
exifting, as well as thofe which time has devoured, and 
exift only in the Collections of antiquaries,- w ho, like the 
fteeting objefls of their lucubrations, have long vauifhed 
from the fociety of men. Lifting with one hand the thick 
veil of darknefs throwm by the lapfe of years over many 
interelling parts of this ancient city, we muft withftand 
with the other the rapacity of the great deftroyer, and 
contrive to prefent to our readers, both that which once 
was, and that which now is, worthy of being known and 
remembered. The chef-d’ceuvres of architeflure, of fculp- 
ture, of painting, all the works of man, as they have a be¬ 
ginning, fo muft they have an end ; and what to-day de¬ 
lights the eye with grandeur, beauty, elegance, may to¬ 
morrow difappear in volumes of flame, or by any other 
phyfical caufe. It is therefore liecefiary to deferibe even 
thofe objects that are cotemporary with us,and may ftrike 
our fight every day; fince, when they fhall have been ex¬ 
punged from the book of realities, they will retain fiill a 
lbrt of imaginary exiftence in our columns and on the cop¬ 
per plates deftined to illuftrate their contents. There pos¬ 
terity will feek for them ; there only they will find them, 
and blefs our memory for the trouble we have taken. 
St. Paul’s. —The metropolitan church of St. Paul be¬ 
ing nearly the central point of the whole of our furvey, 
namely, London, Weftminfter, and the Borough, vve have 
chofen it alfo as the centre of our perambulations in and 
about thefe three component parts of the capital of the 
united kingdom. Hence we lliall ftart in fearch of objefts 
worthy of notice, making out obfervations as we proceed 5 
following, as inoft ufefui guides, thofe writers who have 
preceded us in the fame career, taking their word whon 
we have no better authority, but always fcrupulous and 
fearful in admitting ungrounded opinions. To St. Paul’s 
we fliall return by different windings, proud of making 
dilcoveries, if, after the laft and keeneft of gleaners, Pen¬ 
nant, difeoveries are to be made; and bold enough to 
think for ourfelves, and tofet our predecefibrs and leaders 
right whenever we find them deluded or miftaken. When 
the fubjefts of our defeription caunot be placed before 
our eyes, we will faithfully quote our authorities ; but, 
-when and where ever we can procure ocular certainty, we 
muft be allowed to indulge our own fenfe and judgment. 
Although it matters little whether on the fpot, upon 
which tins magnificent bafilica now ftands, there was ever * 
a temple dedicated to Diana, or to any other heathen 
deity, or no temple at all; yet there is always a great deal 
of pleafure felt by a true antiquary in finding the truth 
behind the curtain which time has drawn between us and 
the monuments of paft ages. At the diffufion of the evan¬ 
gelical light, and when the follies of paganifm began to 
be exploded, the nearly-general cuftom of the Chrilfians 
was 
