The Sun.
London, England, 1823-06-04 00:00:00

Tuesday 29•

Called at a shop in Piccadilly to buy 501. worth of lace for
my niece, who is going to be married; but left the shop.without
making any purchase, when I found that a chair was not
allowed for the customers to sit down upon. This is my lead-
ing grievance in London: I have trained my neighbours at
Abergaveny pretty well on this point ; but London is too
large a school for my discipline to work upon.
I have made a rule, however, never to deal at any shop where
this revolting piece of impudence is practised.
Mem.—This trick found out since I was last in town. lam
told it is settled amongst shopkeepers to set their faces against
leaving chairs for the gentlefolks to sit down upon and loiter in
the shops.
Mern.—To leave any. shop immediately which has notchairs,
and to avoid dealing with all persons who use the phrase " set
my face against, or made up my mind against, any thing."
This language is used to cover a worthless character by a show
of decision. , •
llrednaday, 30.
Received a letter to-day from my neighbour Fidget, desiring
me to send him down half a dozen of beau traps to set in his
pleasure grounds.
He says he can't keep Captain O'Toole and Lieutenant
MbOillicuddy out of his premises—was laughed at by my farm-
ing implement maker in Oxford-street, who said I might have
a dozen of them for nothing after the first heavy shower. Don't
like to be laughed at ; so I have made no further inquiries on
the subject.
Thursday, May 1.
A fine sunny day, was tempted to walk to Kensington
Gardens.
Alem.—Not a bench or seat of any kind the whole of that
way. I suppose they have " set their faces against it."
Entered into conversation with a French gentleman ; he told
me " if they had such a Park near Paris, there would be chairs
and benches in all directions, particularly under the trees, and
tables laid with ices, lemonade, and refreshments of all kinds ;
was provoked to think that foreigners, particularly Frenchmen,
should understand public accommodation so much better than
we do in England.
Obliged to allow that nothing can be more tasteless or worse
laid out than the whole Park, taken together. If I was the
King, I would not sleep a night in the blue smoke of Carlton
Palace, when I could breathe the fine clear air of Kensington.
Besides, at that distance from town, he would be relieved from
giving audience to so many important blockheads.
Took an evening walk from Ctunberland Gate to Hyde
Park-corner. Saw a great crowd in Rotten-row : asked if any
thing had happened ? It looked like the meeting of two fune-
rals. Was told that was the usual airing before dinner.—
Looked at niy watch and found it was half-past six.
• Mem.—To send an excuse to Lord N. in Grosvenor.square,
where I am engaged to dinner for to-morrow.

• Friday, .211-my
Bought a dozen pairof stockings, marked only Is. &l a pair
—thought I bad made a great bargain, but found they did not
stand the first washing. Sorry to find that thousands of people
are bred up in England to the making and vending of these
fraudulent articles in all branches.

I intend to set up my steward's son in the Burlington Arcade,
in the fancy line; shall insist on his offering his goods at the
highest prices for ready money.—This is the way never to sell
a bad article.

At present we pass with foreigners not only as la -nation
boutiquiere, but as la nation viviiisante. In truth, our law
priced articles are all so Many frauds, and the English character
abroad has suffered in consequence.
Found out to-day a trick of the butchers, to put in a piece of
vile carrion along with a fair joint; " the two, they say, i4o to-
dether."—I have left five butchers on account of this impu-
ent attempt.
A fine woman is a pleasing object ; but if she must be ac-
companied by a typhous fever, some doubt might arise on the
whole transaction as a desirable one.

I saw some very bad fish to-day at a conceited shop in Bond,
street, and expressed my surprise—was answered, " Sir, we
have fish at all prices ;" the truth is, they won't sell unless
they are entered ;—:was delighted to see four turbots on hands,
very like the complexion of some of the old ladies from Rotten-
row.

_ .
I asked, " What's a slice of 'cod to-day ?" 2s. Rd., Sir; the
price of the whole fish at the place where it is taken, as I
am a sinner. _ _

In order to make a set-o&against the smell, of the. turbots,
walked for some minutes about Mr. Deluvin's shop, at the cor-
ner of Stafford-stmt.—My perfumery is not a heavy expence,
as this Is the only treat I ever take in that way.
Met Lord M. in St. James's-street, after 1 had sent my 'ex-
cuse for dinner.
Recollected he was a great admirer of Horace, and made a
quotation' from that author, which got me out of the scrape
tolerably Quam due seguta• dus ariutore timenti ye-
niam.'

Saturday, May 3.
Called at a bookseller's shop, and asked for Horace Del-
phini.—Horace, Horace ! we have Horace Walpole, but no
other author of that name.
I acknowledged he was a very entertaining writer, but said
I wanted a work somewhat more old-fashioned. As to that,
Sir we have some, but of the newest fashion. My friend, I
replied, you ought to be bred a man-milliner. Have you
Cicero de Republica, which I assure you is quite a new work,
and a very curious one? Was answered with a look of re-
proof—Sir, I never admit into my collection any republican or
radical work whatever.

Have you any books of natural history ? Not that I know
of, Sir. What, not Cuvier's Theory of the Earth, that has
made so much noise here and in France ? Why, Sir, to tell
you the truth, we set our face against them their theories, and
have made up our mind against them. At these unlucky ex-
pressions I ignited immediately, and exploded through the
shop door with the utmost rapidity. Extended my walk through
the Park on the Hannersnuth.road. ,

Could wish that the author of the elegant letters to Julia had
for a moment dipt his pen in gall, to punish the contempt of
public feeling exhibited in the Park.
It is no answer, " That you can sit down 'in Kensington
gardens." Many elderly persons, females, and children, have
three miles to walk before they can reach a scat in those gar-
dens. But the poor pedestrians are not merely left unprovided
with any accommodation ; there is, at the very entrance of the
Park, an evident design to get them into a scrape, which has
unfortunately too often succeeded. The rail is continued to
the iron gate, instead of having an open through which there
might be an escape into the foot way. This is a purposed and
truly odious contrivance.
A little way on is a rill of the purest water, crossing from
the fotintain on the Brompton-road, and running along the foot
way. Sat down on the grass, and tasted the water, which was
delicious. My companion was amused with my discovery
of a very unexpected vessel for drinking it out of ;
most opportunely the bottom of a glass bottle hove in sight.
This hollow cone was from the collection of some Perpistus
Caupo, who had bottled his wine 16 to the dozen. I have
heard this proportion boasted of in my younger days at the
Christopher Inn, in Eton, as a very honest one.
Pursued my walk on the Hammersmith road, and, in default
of seats, rested for a few minutes at the Black Swan and the
Red Lion, and would have stopped at the Blue Bear if there
had been such a signal of hospitality on my way.
Universal complaints on. the suppression of the Fairs lately en-
finced. by the Magistrates.
Brook-green Fair, on May-day and two days following, was
an'annual festivity to that whole quarter.
1117,.s very angry to find the amusements of the people for.

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WEDNESDAY; JUNE 4, 1823.

bidden in this ill-natured niann er.—Make it a point to encourage
the Fairs near Abergaveny as much as possible.
There is something more than pleasure meant in these Fairs,
—the little shops and public-houses look to them for —the
profits of business to pay their rents ; and I must say,
as a Magistrate, that if Government put these, people under
various charges for excise licences, assessed taxes, &c. they
ought on the other hand to leave ttteni an opportunity of mak.
ing head against there outgoings, by the usual profits of their
business. But the people of England are too much devoted to
gaiety ; they tare volatile and frolicksome, and require to be
brought to a serious way of thinking. Agabist this position
there is at least prima ,brie evidence; as far as phisiognomy
can be trusted, my countrymen must be set down for a very
drab coloured creation. _

There is probably less pleasure in London, proportion of
extent regarded, than any city in Europe; and the reason is,
that cheerfulness and sincerity are not in the nature of the peo-
ple. Their minds are enamelled against all such sensations.
The matter is not mended when those good folks run down in
breathless haste to Bath, Cheltenham, Leamington, Brighton,
Ramsgate, Margate. Its prominent leur ennui, as the rench
say—the smoke and fog and cares of London seem to have sat
on the dickey the whole of the -journey, and to claim their em-
pire on the minds of travellers.
The fact is, that amusements have not x,l t.) stand upon at
those celebrated watering and water-drinking places—such
things are viewed with suspicion, as trenching on the dignity of
man, and speedk give way to moral retisctions and thumb-
twisting. The bench of Magistrates, it is said, having been
rather unsuccessful lately in making discoveries, set to work in
earnest, and found out all at once "that all the fairs within ten
miles of the capital were illegal."
Adieu the annual long expected humours of West End,
Brook Green, Parsons Green, and many other Greens, where
this pleasure-loving people u ere wont to sacrifice to gaiety and
dissipation, where the beaux of the hamlet had meditated for
their sweethearts the sentimental treats of blite ruin, ;brown
stout, merry-go-rounds, and gingerbread in all shapes.
I recollect reading in the Letters of Voiture of some persons
in his time, 1 believe they were Magistrates, who, as he said,
would have taken the Spring out of the year, and youth out of
human life, if they had their will. Some of these persons came
over to this country on the revocation of the edict of Nantes,
and their descendants have in some instances had talents suffi-
cient to raise them to the Bench of Justices in Middlesex and
Surrey.
It is to be regretted that persons who thus devote themselves
to the public welfare, should experience such a mortification as
appears to be prepared for these worthy Benchers.—Turtle,
it seems, cannot be obtained in future at the Taverns at a less
price than five shillings a pound.
Clem.--To support the gas light petition for Aberg.aveny and
Brecknock, the lighting of the Hammersmith and Turnbani.
green Road is magnificent.
The public pumps are also a noble institution. It strikes
me that rather too high a compliment is paid to the dust
in devoting the whole supply of water to that service.—
Human uses might claim some share of that common gift of
nature, but the pumps are all chained up ; the Gentlemen of
the Hammersmith Trust no doubt must be right, and Cicero
in his Officia is wrong, when.he mentions " aquam exputeo"
as one of the indisputable natural rights.
MARK BRAMBLE