BOOKS.

THE SIGHTS OF LONDON IN 1771.* AMONG collectors of old books, some, we know, confine their desires to what may be called ." little books," chiefly, though not all, children's books, of the last century or the early part of this one,—the first edition of The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes, for instance, whether written by Goldsmith, as critics think, or not; and the works of that distinguished writer, " Tom Telescope," who taught our great-grandfathers science. Without going on to the days when " Mrs. Barbauld's and Mrs. Trimmer's nonsense," as Charles Lamb called it, " lay in piles " about Mr. Newbery's shop, there are many treasures to be collected by this generation, so curiously different from the last in its value for what has gone before.

Among such relics as these, the present writer knows few more interesting than the two fat little volumes of The Curiosities of London and Westminster, published by Newbery in 1771, in the original form of four thin little paper volumes at 6d. each. Not that the present binding is modern; it dates from 1777 at latest, when the book entered some branch of the family on whose shelves it still remains. It has a green back and blue sides ; paper and print thin and poor ; pictures stiff and wooden, though no doubt correct, and bringing in, on a very small scale, the costumes and coaches of the time. The only really fine and effective pictures are those of Gog and Magog. Gog looks a terrible old savage, and is described as such; Magog is " a much handsomer fellow." The leaves and corners of the volumes are worn by the fingers of many children, who up to the last generation learned their London from these fascinating pages. They were not critical, nor were their elders, so far as to interfere with real enjoyment. For in- stance, the Norman Chapel in the Tower, dismissed by this book as " the church, which contains nothing remarkable," was nothing to them in comparison with the wild beasts, or even with the opening and shutting of the gates, the solemn

fetching and carrying of the keys, the mystery of " the watch- word, which is kept very secret, and is the same, on the same night, in every fortified place within the King's dominions."

At the risk of making a lengthy paper, we must linger a little among those wild beasts who lived in the Tower one hundred and twenty years ago. This book gives us their names and their characters; some of them seem nearly human ; they are different indeed from the repulsive animals one meets now in Zoological Gardens and menageries. You ring at a door with a figure of a lion over it, and pay sixpence each person : you then find yourself in a yard, " where is a range of dens, in the form of a half-moon." In these dens lived lions and lionesses, panthers, wolves, leopards, tigers, bears, tiger-cats, an eagle, and an ostrich. A touching story is told of one lion, named • Dunco,' and his affection for his keeper : "In tenderness he seems to have come near to human nature,

and in friendship to have surpassed it." In the seventh den was- " 'Miss Fanny,' a beautiful young lioness, brought from Bombay by Captain Webb, and by him presented to his Majesty. She is good-tempered, and so very tame, that some time since being in- disposed, and not eating her meat, the keepers prepared a dose of physic for her, and one of them held her mouth open with his hands, while the other poured the physic down her throat ; and though this draught was repeated three or four times, she showed no greater dislike than a growl of disapprobation."

Cleone,' a young lioness, and Penelope,' a young bear, seem, after Miss Fanny,' to have been the most amiable among these animals; but before leaving them, we must not forget Nero,' the oldest lion in the Tower, who died a short time before this book was published :— " The looks of this animal were wont to strike the stoutest beholder with awe. His head was large, and covered with a long shagged mane that reached to his shoulders, which added rather to the terror than majesty of his countenance; his eyes were far set in his head, and darted as it were a kind of red flame through his long shaggy and dishevelled hair, which raised such an idea of

* The Curiosities of London and Westminster Descrtled. In 4 vols. Embellished with elegant Copper Plates. London : Printed for F. Newbery, at the Corner of St. Padre Churchyard. 1771,

fierceness, as cannot be excited in the mind unaccompanied with fear. His mouth opened wide, and discovered a frightful set of teeth : and when he roared, he might be heard at a great distance.

His fore feet were armed with five prodigious claws, and his hind feet with four. This stately creature had his shoulder slipped by accident, which made him go lame ; he was very gentle and tractable to his feeder, and would lie down and play with him like a spaniel; but I would advise no stranger to be so familiar with any animals they may be shown, as it would be dangerous to come within their reach."

All the other attractions of the Tower, the spoils of the Armada, the curiosities, the armoury, the jewels, the Mint,

are described with the same affectionate minuteness as the animals; and when the writer goes slowly on to the Monument and the Great Fire, London Bridge, old and new, the Custom House, the Royal Exchange, and so forth, though he honestly and graphically tells us all about them, we feel that he has left his heart behind him. He is still haunted by the history and legend of the Tower, still grieving a little, perhaps, over the thought that the climate of England does not agree with the constitutions of many of the wild beasts and birds, so that some have died of cold, and some of heat, and that though "many rare animals are daily expected to arrive from abroad," the collection is not what it was formerly. However, he would as soon have expected the monuments to be removed from Westminster Abbey as the lions from the Tower.

Our guide is full of curious bits of information : how Bethlehem Hospital got its name, for instance, from a priory, founded in 1247, "of brothers and sisters, who wore a star upon their copes and mantles, in commemoration of the star that guided the wise men." This priory seems to have come to an end in Henry VIII.'s time, when it was made into a hospital for " lunaticks." But the old building tumbled down, and was not large enough to " receive and entertain the great number of distracted persons ;" so that the present Hospital, adorned—singular taste of the time—with figures,

"one representing Raving, and the other Melancholy Mad- ness," was built in 1675. This was a great time for charitable

institutions. The conscience of London seems to have been awakened, perhaps by the Great Fire, and our book has much to say about several of them. The story of the Foundling Hospital is one of the most curious, and it would seem that Christian London then was not very superior to many heathen cities now; for the memorial recommending the foundation of the Hospital, and signed by twenty-one ladies of quality, mentions, among other things, that " no expedient has yet been found out for preventing the frequent murders of poor miserable infanta at their birth; or for suppressing the in- human custom of exposing new-born infants to perish in the streets." This Foundling Hospital soon became a most popular object of charity. It was presented with pictures, chimney-pieces, tables, carvings; all the arts and trades con- tributed. to adorn it :—

" And here we ought not to forget the fine organ presented by Mr. Handel, who has even made this of great benefit to the Hospital, and, from the most benevolent views, has enriched the foundation by a new revenue raised from the powers of harmony, and has had a sacred oratorio performed several times in the year, to crowded audiences, in which he himself played upon the organ gratis."

To young readers, the exciting part of this history was the wonderful method of electing children by a complicated game of red, white, and black balls, described with the utmost minuteness. There was a moment of painful suspense when a poor woman from one of the benches—boys on one side, girls on the other—put her hand into the bag to draw out a ball. And then, "if it was a black one, she was immediately led. with her child out of the Hospital." This relentless Fate had a great effect on our minds. As we grew older, a new shock was received from the way in which these children were brought up :— " The officers of the Hospital are often to remind them of the lowness of their condition, that they may early imbibe the principles of humility and gratitude to their benefactors ; and learn contentedly to undergo the most servile and laborious

offices As they are exposed and abandoned by their parents, they ought to submit to the lowest stations."

The bread of others must indeed have tasted salt to these children ; and the life of the streets, poor little wretches, may well have seemed to them better than such stern humiliation as this. But let us hope that the officers of the Hospital were not always strict in keeping the rules of the Governors.

Among other curious statements made by our friend, is that the Church of St. Mary-le-Bow " received the epithet Is Bow,

from its being the first church in this city built with arches

which the vulgar at that time called bows." Another odd little scrap of history is that Christ's Hospital was fur- nished with linen by King Edward VI., out of the "super- fluous great quantities " which had been used in the churches of London " in the times of Popish superstition."

The Guildhall, with its wonders, is almost as minutely described as the Tower, and a good deal of argument is spent on four small statues by the porch, who " by their dress and habits, appear to be ladies of great nobility." The different opinions of antiquarians, as to who these ladies are, fill two pages of our guide.

He gives us a long account of the old and new St. Paul's, and of how the old tower could not be removed except by blowing it up with gunpowder, a curious proceeding in the middle of London. One is not surprised to hear that "the inhabitants round about " were alarmed " with the terrible apprehensions of an earthquake," or that after a second attempt there was " a panic among the neighbours," and " Dr. Wren " was ordered by the Council to cease the use of gunpowder. He brought down the remaining walls by means of a battering-

The chapter on the British Museum, with all its ancient rules, is very interesting ; in its picture the old building is surrounded with trees and shrubs, and looks like a handsome house in the country. The Temple also has a long history of its own. Among private houses, Northumberland House, then in its greatest magnificence, is fully described, with all the pictures and other treasures it contained. One of its chief beauties was the garden, lying between the house and the Thames :—" A fine lawn, surrounded with a neat gravel walk, and bounded next the walls by a border of curious flowers,

shrubs, and evergreens And, as the horizon is finely diversified with hills the view commands a very beautiful landscape." Among views, one may also mention that from "Buckingham House," "with the delightful hills in Surrey terminating the prospect." The Houses of Parliament were not worth very much notice in those days, and do not receive much from our friend. His account of Westminster Abbey is almost entirely a list of the tombs, with plenty of quaint remarks here and there. Even in those days, the wax- work effigies were packed away in wainscot presses, and all "mangled and spoiled, except those of Queen Elizabeth, King William and Queen Mary, and Queen Anne."

We recommend collectors of "little books" to make this little book one of their objects. It is well worth the trouble, and can never cease to be interesting.