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was approached, not by a door, but by a trap in the floor, opening a communication with the stairs beneath. At each end of the room, front and back, were windows, of that peculiar form so characteristic of the district, and which are made very wide in order to admit light to all parts of the looms placed adjacent to them. At each window was a loom, the husband being at work at one, and the wife at the other. Near the looms were two quill-wheels," a sort of spinning-wheel, at which the "weft" or "shoot" threads are wound upon the quills for using in the shuttles. In the middle of the room was a stump-bedstead, covered with its humble, but clean, "patch-work" quilt; and near it-some on the floor, some on shelves, and some hanging on the walls of the room-were various miscellaneous articles of domestic furniture (for the room served as parlour, kitchen, bed-room, workshop, and all). A few pictures, a few plants, and two or three singing-birds, formed the poetical furniture of the room. The man was weaving a piece of black satin, and the woman a piece of blue; and, in reply to inquiries on the subject, we learned that they were to be paid for their labour at the rates of sixpence and fourpence halfpenny per yard respectively, which, at close work, would yield about seven or eight shillings a-week each. The man was short in stature (as most of the Spitalfields' weavers are), greyheaded, depressed in spirits, but intelligent and communicative. When, after descending from this room, we looked around at the mass of weavers' houses in the vicinity, we could not but feel that most of them bore a saddening similarity to that which we had entered.

A ramble through Bethnal Green and Mile-end New Town, in which the weavers principally reside, presents us with many curious features illustrative either of the peculiarities or of the poverty of the district. We must leave Spitalfields, strictly so called, altogether to the west, in order to witness the scenes to which we allude. We will suppose, for instance, that the visitor enters Spital Square from Norton Folgate, and proceeds through Crispin Street to Spitalfields Market. Here he will find some of the usual arrangements of a vegetable market, but potatoes, sold by wholesale, form the staple commodity. He thence proceeds eastward to Spitalfields Church, one of the "fifty new churches" built in the reign of Queen Anne; and along Church Street to Brick Lane. If he proceed northward up the latter, he will arrive, first, at the vast premises of Truman, Hanbury and Buxton's brewery, and then at the Eastern Counties Railroad, which crosses the street at a considerable elevation; if he extends his steps eastward, he will at once enter upon the districts inhabited by the weavers. On passing through most of the streets in this district a visitor from other parts of the town is conscious of a noiselessness, a dearth of bustle and activity. The clack of the looms. is heard here and there, but not to a noisy degree. It is evident at a glance that in many of the streets all the houses were built expressly for weavers; and in walking through them we noticed the short and not very healthy appearance of the inhabitants. It was rather painful than pleasurable to remark the large number of " Benefit Societies," "Loan Societies," "Burial Societies," &c. whose announcements are posted about the streets; for it is well known to those who have studied these subjects that the poor generally pay ruinous interest. for any aid which, as generally managed, they receive from societies of this kind. Here and there we met with bills announcing that coals were to be had “at twelve

pence per cwt." at a certain place during the cold weather; and at some of the bakers' shops were announcements that "weavers' tickets are taken here in exchange for bread," in allusion to tickets given by a Benevolent Association. In one street we met with a barber's shop, at which, in addition to the operations usually conducted at such places, persons could have "a good wash for one farthing ;" and in another street a flaming placard announced that at a certain public-house the advertiser would attend every evening, to match his bird against any linnet or goldfinch in the world, for "one thousand guineas!" Here we espied a school, at which children were "taught to read and work at twopence a-week;" there a chandler's shop, in which shuttles, reeds, quills, and the smaller parts of weaving apparatus were exposed for sale in the window in company with split-pease, bundles of wood, and red-herrings. At another place was a bill, emanating from the parish authorities, warning the inhabitants that they were liable to a penalty if their dwellings were kept dirty and unwholesome. In one little shop, "patch-work" was sold at "10d. 12d. and 16d. a pound;" and in another-which we regretted more than anything else-astrological predictions, interpretations of dreams, and nativities, were to be purchased, "from three pence upwards," as also extracts from Moore's Almanac' for the last seventy years. In very many of the houses the windows numbered more sheets of paper than panes of glass; and no inconsiderable number of houses were shut up altogether.-We would willingly present a brighter picture, but ours is a Dutch copy from the life.

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"It is by the Thames," says a popular writer, "that the foreigner should enter London. The broad breast of this great river, black with the huge masses that float upon its crowded waters,-the tall fabrics, gaunt and drear, that line its melancholy shores, the thick gloom through which you dimly catch the shadowy outline of these gigantic forms, -the marvellous quiet with which you glide by the dark phantoms of her power into the mart of nations,-the sadness, the silence, the vastness, the obscurity of all things around-prepare you for a grave and solemn magnificence. Behold St. Katharine's Docks, and Walker's Soap Manufactory, and Hardy's Shades!' Lo! there is the strength, the industry, and the pleasure-the pleasure of the enterprising, the money-making, the dark-spirited people of England." Such may probably be the reflections of the foreigner as some steam-vessel from the Elbe or the Rhine, from Boulogne, Calais, or Havre, sweeping past the "time-worn" Tower, brings-to off the Custom House. Before the introduction of steam-ships the continental traveller generally landed at Harwich or Dover, and the first page of his diary was in praise *France, by H. L. Bulwer.

VOL. II.

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(if he praised us at all) of our horses and public vehicles, of the excellence of the roads, and the rapid travelling; the verdant appearance of English scenery, the prettiness of the cottages, and the air of neatness and comfort pervading the villages and small towns through which he passed on his journey to the metropolis. Now, however, he is thrown at once into the vortex of London, without the preparation which a journey of above seventy miles affords.

The spacious and well-gravelled quay in front of the Custom House, the only quay in the port of London on which the public can walk, with the exception of a small one in front of the Tower, is deserving of more commendation than it has generally received, though beaux and belles who seek for gratification in reciprocal glances of admiration will resort to the more congenial shades of Kensington Gardens or the promenades in the Parks. This is a place for enjoyment of another kind. Here at mid-day the rays of the winter's sun seem less feeble than elsewhere under the shelter of the great building on the north, and the aged and valetudinarian feel doubly grateful for the genial influence of its rays. Why might not a few benches be placed here and there for their accommodation, as this could probably be done without inconvenience or detriment to the public business? We are, however, thankful that the public are not altogether excluded; so let us on a fine summer's day resort hither and observe what is passing before us. At the western extremity of the quay is Billingsgate, the great fish-market of the metropolis, with the small dock for the craft of the fishermen. It is nearly high water, and while the flood lasts they continue to arrive, and, by a little seaman-like manoeuvring, are brought into the mooring-place provided for them. The size of the fishermen's boats is as various as their cargoes. Some have perhaps mackerel, which may either prove very valuable or be sold at a loss, according to the time at which it reaches the market; and if the tide did not serve, the steam-tug has been employed for the sake of despatch. Other boats are of smaller size, and we may see how eminently domestic is the employment of the fisherman. One or two of his boys, often at a very early age, assist him in the boat, while his wife and the remainder of the children are drying and mending the nets at home. The boats, which have already disposed of their cargoes, are got ready for leaving the dock; the sails are unfurled; and as soon as the tide turns, a number of them will pass in quick succession down the river. A little westward of Billingsgate dock are the wharfs for steam-boats for Greenwich, Woolwich, Gravesend, and other parts of the river. Their arrival and departure is incessant, and strains of music catch the ear as they rapidly pass the Custom House Quay, most of the boats being accompanied by three or four musicians, who doubtless enhance the enjoyment of the innumerable persons who seek for relaxation by a trip to the above-mentioned places. Lighters laden with coal and every kind of merchandise and produce, and whose longest voyage does not extend below the Pool or much above the bridges, are passing; country barges which come by the canals from places far inland; and small sloops which in summer do not fear a sea voyage to any part of the English coast, but in winter are employed on the canals. Then the light wherry lands its fare at the stairs or passes up and down the stream. On the right is the noble bridge with its throng of passengers, coaches, omnibuses, hackney-coaches, cabs, carts, drays, and waggons. On land and water the tide of life is flowing before us with full

volume, but here, while witnessing how rapidly it hastens along, the roar of the living torrent is blended and harmonised. The flickering lights which are reflected on the surface of the river at the same time delight the eye by their varied shades and tones. But a large steam-ship advances, heaving the wave all around in its impetuous course, its deck crowded with aliens, perhaps exiles, and English tourists who have spent various periods, from seven days to as many months or years, on the continent. It is curious to watch the countenance of each individual among the successive boat-loads which are brought from the steamship and landed at the Custom House stairs; and to speculate upon the feeling produced in the gay sons and daughters of France, the exciteable Italian, or more sober German, on first touching English ground. In the large world of London there is an abiding place for them if they can bring the recommendation of superior aptitude and talent for whatever they undertake. The Steam Packet Baggage Warehouse is a department of the London Custom House rendered necessary by the increased passenger intercourse between the port of London and the continent; and here the duties upon articles contained in the baggage of travellers may be paid with the least possible delay. The articles upon which the duties are principally levied are books, china, musical instruments, millinery, cau de Cologne, prints, and shoes; and that from France, Holland, and Hamburg, the articles in passengers' luggage pay a duty of about 4000l. a-year. The regulations of the Commissioners of Customs in respect to passengers are liberal and indulgent, and they are executed in the same spirit.

All the western nations appear to have inherited from the Romans the practice of exacting certain payments on the landing and embarkation of merchandise at each seaport, and the name of customs, or some equivalent term, shows that these payments were sanctioned by immemorial usage. These exactions aided the sovereign in his necessities, and induced him to encourage the commerce of his subjects. Stow observes that merchants and retailers do not only profit themselves and enrich the realm, but "bear a good fleece which the prince may shear when he seeth good ;" and this regard to the fleece rendered the interest of both parties in some measure identical. It appears from a letter to Offa, King of the Mercians, by Charlemagne, that the English pilgrims travelling to Rome frequently assumed the scrip and staff as a cloak for smuggling, introducing, as it is conjectured, articles of gold and silver without paying the customs, from which, as pilgrims, they were exempt. Charlemagne was desirous that persons who were truly on pilgrimage should " travel in peace, without any trouble;" but as to the pretenders, who are " not in the service of religion, but in the pursuit of gain, let them pay the established duties at the proper places." Rather more than a century afterwards Ethelred II. (A. D. 978-1016), in a council held at Wantage, in Berkshire, fixed the toll or custom on ships and merchandise arriving at Billingsgate, which, at that time, appears to have been the principal landing-place in the port of London. It was declared that every smaller boat should pay one halfpenny; a large boat with sails one penny; a keel (a ship, we suppose) four pennies; a vessel with wood to give one piece of wood; a boat with fish coming to the bridge one halfpenny or one penny, according to its size. After the Conquest customs were exacted not only by the King, but, at the outports, by the lord under whose protection the town was.

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