1800.] State of Manners, &c. of the Metropolis of England. - 189 
of art that will long be admired and che- 
rifhed as ornaments to the country. 
It cannot be a matter of aftonifhment, 
tha: few examples of genius have been 
‘known to burft forth in the fplendid 
{phere of courtly life. The hours which 
are now appropriated to pleafure, and.to 
repofe, are fo hoftile to reflection, and fo 
contradictory to nature, that nothing but 
vapid amufement, or apathy fpringing 
from fatiety, can be expected from our 
women of exalted birth ; yet the names of 
the Duchefs of Devonfhire, Ladies Spen- 
cer, Lucan, Befborough, and a few others, 
are ftriking examples of fine tafte, and fi- 
nifhed execution in the magical graces, 
both of the pen and of the pencil. 
The gufie for foreign dramas, foreign, 
mufic, and forciga cookery, has alfo been 
dilplayed, of late years, in the buildings of 
the metropolis. I will nox pretend to decide, 
whether or not this climate is congenial to 
the change 5 but, unqueftionably, the mo- 
dern ftile of architeCture has confiderably 
beautified the cities and towns of Great 
Britain. With this tafte in houfes, the 
houfhold eftablifamen:s have alfo under- 
gone a metamorphofis ; and foreign fer- 
vants now hold the higheft {tations in the 
domettic department of our moft diftin- 
guifhed families. French fervants areat this 
moment employed even by the very loftieft 
of our nobility ; and the fairelt dames of 
courtly diftin&@ion cannot fancy them- 
felves well-dreft, unlefs they employ a 
French milliner, and a French femme de 
chambre. 
The bouleverfement of every thing in the 
polite world is in nothing more outre than 
in the difpofal of time. The early meals 
of our anceftors were conducive to that 
hardihood, which is rarely met with in the 
effeminized race of modern nobility. 
Thofe who have been moft brilliantly dif 
tinguifhed, fince the middle of the laft 
century, have been reared either in the 
{chool of arms, or on the wild bofom of 
the ocean. ‘They have not been the fickly 
plants of a fafhionable hot-bed, where in- 
dolence begets vice, and vice becomes the 
parent of laffitude, apathy, difeafe, and 
death. The breakfafh at fun-rife, the 
noon-tide repatt, and the twilight pillow 
of repofe, which marked the days of Queen 
Elizabeth, are now exchanged for .the 
evening breakfaft, and the midnight din- 
net ; while the dawn is ufhered in witha 
fupper, and the morning hours waited 
in enervatinge flumbers. Even the cheek 
of beauty fades, prematurely, by the taper 
ro) 
light of the fun-excluding ball-room ; and 
the public markets are monopolized, or, 
at leaft, gleaned of the moft rare and un- 
feafonable provifions, while the funs and 
daughters of genius and of labour ere 
ftarving inthe ob{cure abodes of indutry 
or forrow, 
Among the nuifances which not only 
difgrace, but contaminate the air of the 
metropolis, there are none fo much in 
need of reformation as the practice of 
driving and killing cattle. Slaughtering- 
houfes never fhould be permitted ina great 
and populous city. The barbarity which 
is daily practifed in the ftreets of London, 
cannot fail to fhock humanity; while the 
foot-paffengers are expofed to the moft 
imminent peril, by the conduét of the 
butcher’s boys, drovers, &c, 
days when the beaft-market is held in 
Smithfield, it is dangerous to walk the 
fireets in any part of the metropolis ; but 
particularly in the avenues which lead to 
the different markets. We read of the 
facrifices of ancient times with a mixture 
of horror and pity ; yet we behoid in 
this country, which boafts its humanity, 
and its police, more cruelty exercifed to- 
wards the brute creation, than was ever 
exhibited, or tolerated, in the ages of ac- 
knowledged, barbarifm! This inftance 
appears the more extraordinary, when we 
reflect that the Englifh are not by nature 
a fanguinary people : affaffinations are lefs 
common in this, than in every other 
country 3 duelling is frequentiy avoided 
by the hardy courage of the pugilift ; and 
even at times of public commotion, it has 
been proved by experience that an Englifh 
populace is always more inclined to piun- 
der than to maffacre. 
London has to boaft, among its nume- 
rous advantages, that of poffeffing the 
mott tranfcendant profeffional talents. We 
have perhaps fome of the firit medical 
men in the univerfe ; and, while the vale- 
tudinarian fighs for the lofs of a Fothergil, 
and a Warren, he ftill looks with confi- 
dence to the learning, judgment, and huma- 
nity of a Vaughan, a Blane, a Fordyce, and 
a Reynolds ;—while the different branches 
of the profeffion are fkilfully praétifed by 
Ruth, Carlifle, Knight, tawkins, and 
many others, whofe reputation has been 
eftablifhed by long practice, extenfive 
knowledge, and labours, beneficial to their 
tellow-creatures. 
- The inhabirants of this country have 
acquired a tafte for mufic, which I be- 
lieve was uncultivated by our forefathers, 
TE 2 The 
On thofe 
