AN AMERICAN’S DESCRIPTION OF LONDON.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1180, 20 May 1884, Page 3

AN AMERICAN’S DESCRIPTION OF LONDON.

The following, written by its corespondent in London, appears in a late San Francisco newspaper : Imagine a city as large as New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Chicago, Boston, New Orleans, St. Louis, San Francisco and Washington com' ined, a city in which 100,OCO strangers enter every day, a city in which 23 miles of streets and 9000 new houses are built every year, a city whose water supply is 50,000,0C0 gallons daily, and whose sewers carry ofl 10.000 feet of refuse every 24 hours, a city whose resident population is larger than all Scotland, and Switzerland, and almost eoual to that of Belgium. Such is London, the largest, wealthiest and iro .t wicked city in the world. In no othe" city is there so much luxury and so much misery. Here rice does not hide itself in its own dens, hut stalks abroad, reeking, shameless, nun pant. Like the ghost of the murdered

Banquo, ‘lt will not down.’ At the theatres, music halls, restaurants, on the crowded Strand, Oxford street, elegant Pall Mall and fashionable Piccadilly, everywhere it crosses your path and shocks your * love of the human:’ More barefaced, bold and hideous vice is seen in one night in London than New York displays in a month or San Francisco in a year. Drunkenness is almost a universal vice, and is not confined to the lower order or to the male sex. Women of fashion, of high social position, titled ladies, drink to excess. They keep their private brandy bottles at the shops down town where the / deal, and have it che-ged

IV/ITll vy WDi v V 4 VUIJ »UV4 HUI » v *v in (he'T bibs as ‘ trimmings.’ At parties they get fuddled with champagne and reel through ike dance, and are often sent home in their cr-riages in a state of intoxication. 0 wing to the darkness which prevails hero three-fourths of the year and leaves very little daylight, the London hours are very late. Before ten in the morning the streets are almost deserted. Nine is considered an early hour for breakfast, and six an early hour for dinner. Parliament , sits at night, and often all night. At midnight the streets are more crowded than at mid-day. The numerous theatres are well attended, and do not depend so much on stars as with us. English audiences are not critical, and much easier pleaded i han American audiences. After the theatres the eating-houses on the Strand are full of people, and this continues until one o’clock, when they are closed for the r : ght. The English are great meat-eaters and teadiinkers. Only black lea is used, and it is as strong as lye and about as palatable. The coffee is generallv good in London, but in Liverpool it was made of Jamaica ba. ties and chicory, a composition which 1 could not ;dr nk. The bread and but< m a e not particularly good. At the Arundel Hotel, where I am slopping, four meals >■ e serv 1 every day —breakfast, lunch, dinner, and_ supper. The breakfast is quite a substantir’ meal, including fish, eggs, meat, bread, coffee or tea ; the lunch is cold meat, and bread and butter. Dinner is the great meal of the day, and consists of six courses, viz., soup, fish, entrees, meats, dessert, cheese and celeiy. Supper is from eight to ten, and is a very light repast of bread and tea or coffee. The meals are well served ; the wait ra wear the regulation dress coat and white avat. They are always polite, and generally attentive except at brak.asfc, when the guest has to wait 6fl en mine'es for ham and eggs and a cap of coffee. I miss at dinner the abundant variety of vegetables that we have in A meric ~ Irish potatoes and cauliflower are the onlv vegetables, and they are served with monotonous severity. I miss many conveniences which are considered indispensable at home. The a. a is very poor, the bedrooms cold, the beds hard, the towels too si-’ff, the water stale, and the bedclothes insufficient. Tipping is general. The bead waiter expects* to be liberally remembered, though for what I have never been able to ascertain. Your own special waiter expects to be tipped, boots expects to be tipp I, the chambeimaid expects to be lipped. If you visit a public building, the Bank of England, for instance, the roan who shows you through expects a shilling, and so on. The bank covers three acr - and has about five hundred employees. Many of them commence as junior clerks at the age of sixteen, and af er sewing forty years retire on a pension. The bank is guarded every night by a captain and thirty-four men. The amount of specie in the vauff- is incalculable. Every note of the Bank of England is destroyed when it returns to the bank and a new one issued. The smallest note issued is £5, and so on up to £IO,OOO. The West End of London, especially Mayfair and Kensington, is filled with acres of the palaces of the aristocracy and gentry. The outsides of the houses are all blackened with the inevitable London smoke, but the insides are luxuriantly furnished — lasterpieces of art cover the walls and beautiful statues embellish the halls, and while all the monuments and states outside have lost their original beauty these retain their fan-ness untarnished.

The Queen is not as popular as she was twenty-five years ago. Her long seclusion from society since the death of Prince Albert, has trhen from her much of the affections of all classes. It is very justly thought that she has public duties to perform as well as private grief* to nurse, and that the Sovereign of England should do something for the public in return for the 100,000 dols. which she receives from it. Her recent sentimental gush over John Brown has not added to her popularity. And so far as govern" ig _ goes, Queen VictoiVs position coffid be just as well filled by a royal effigy, and at much less expense. The Prime Minister is the real ruler of England, the Sovereign is only the ornamental figurehead. The Princess of Wales is the most popular of fie royal family. Her beauty and sweet gracious dignity early won the love of the English people, and she has always retained it. The Prince of Wales is more popular ow tl m -formerly. His devotion to hunting, and other manly sports is highly appreciated by all Englishmen.

Railroad travelling in Englaud possesses many advantages. When yon arrive at a station a porter approaches, takes your saichel, asus you where you are going, whethe" you have a ticket, shews you where to buy it, escorts you to your train, puts your luggage in the rack, bows and re ; res, and doesn’t even look like he expected a shilling. .Five minutes before the train starts, the guard comes round and examines your ticket to gee that you are in the right train and the right car. All the officials behave as the servants cf the public.