1319.) 
gether by breathing a manufactured air; 
a change of climate, a pure bracing 
breeze would shiver them into atoms. 
But Evelyn attributes to this smoak our 
expectorations, our rheumatisms, and 
our consumptions, ‘* which rage more 1n 
this city than in all Europe besides.” 
*‘ frequently do we hear men say, speak 
ing of some deceased neighbour, He 
went up to London, and took a great 
cold, whick he could never afterwards 
claw off gain. 
He observes on the smoak, or the fu- 
Jiginous Crust yearly contracted, which 
adheres to the side of our chimnies where 
this great fuel of sea-coal is used, that if 
we imagine a solid tentorium or canopy 
over London, what a mass of soote 
would then stick to it, which now comes 
down every night in the streets on our 
houses, the waters, and is taken into our 
bodies. He traces its effects in our 
chambers, on the earth; and observes 
that “in the waters it leaves a thin web, 
or pellicle of dust, dancing upon the sur- 
face of it, as those who bathe in the 
Thames discern and bring home on their 
bodies; while it sticks on the hands, face, 
and linen, of our fair ladies, and nicer 
dames, who reside constantly in London, 
(especially during winter) as the prodigi- 
ous waste of almond-powder for the one,. 
soap and wearing out of the other, do 
suficiently manifest.” His - majesty 
(Charles II.) who was a lover of build- 
ings, pictures, and gardens, &c. had long 
beheld it as a prodigious enemy to their 
lustre and beauty. Evelyn gives a cu- 
rious piece of information : he had heard 
in France, that those parts lying south- 
west of England, complain of being in- 
fested with smoak from our coasts, which 
enjured the vines in flower ! 
He observes further, ‘ respecting the 
chandlers and butchers, that because of 
those horrid stinks and unwholesome 
smells which praceed from the tallow and 
corrupted blood, no cattle shouldbe killed 
within the city, by which meansalso might 
be avoided the driving of cattle through 
the streets, a great inconvenience and 
some danger. The Ler Carnaria of the 
Romans, forbid butchers to have their 
slaughter-house within the walls; and 
Erasmus ‘says, malunt habere Vicinos 
Scaree Tracts, Kes 
438 
decem Lenones quam unum Lenionens, 
they would rather dwell near ten bawdy 
than one butcher.” eG 
The remedy he proposes is the re. 
moval of those offensive trades who use 
great quantities of coal, “ which,in ne 
city of Europe would be permitted,” te 
farther distances; such as brewers, tale 
low-chandlers, smiths, &c. and he pros 
poses to place them at the utmost ex- 
tremity of the river-side, employing 
watermen for the carriage of their ar- 
ticles. ' 
After having purified the air, he would 
next convert the city into an elysium, by 
continuing his majesty’s plan of planta- 
tions in the moist grounds about the 
town. This could only have been prace 
ticable in Evelyn’s time, when there 
were cottages opposite to Whitehall, 
His flowery project amuses the fancy. 
He has enumerated a catalogue of native 
plants, familiar to our country and clime, — 
‘< whose redolent and agreable emissions 
would even ravish our senses, as well as 
perfectly improve the aer about London.” 
One of his favourite plants is rosemary, 
“the flowers whereof are reported to 
give their scent many leagues off at sea, 
on the coasts of Spain. Those who take 
notice of the scent of the orange-flowers 
from the rivage of:Genoa, or the odori« 
ferous wafts which flow from Fontenay 
and Vaugirard even to Paris, in the 
season of roses, will consent to what X 
suggest ;—that is, to the liberal pro 
duction of such things, as upon every 
gentle emission through the aer, should 
so perfume the adjacent places with their 
breath, as if, by a certain charm, or ine 
nocent magic, they were transferred ta 
the happy Arabia.” ; 
- Such was the amiable project of the 
patriot and the enthusiast, to render 
this city one of the sweetest and most 
delicious habitations on the earth! And 
aurely, if we cannot have these gardens of 
fancy, we might at least push on his great 
enemies, the brewers, the smiths, and 
the dyers, higher up by the river-side, 
otherwise we must stiil regret the ab- 
sence of what this good man promises— 
“the skie fair, and the aer in good 
temper,” 
Extracts 
. 
