Star.
London, England, 1826-12-11 00:00:00

TO SLEEP.

FROM THZ LITIMARY MAOIST!.

O gentle power, I court thy kind embrace;
Come o'er my eyelids save thy shun wand;
Pale melancholy's crowding phantoms clime,
And soothe my sorrows with thy sluitibita blend.
Oh I why veils thou the sons of health taress,
And still the mourner's ineocadon spurn ?
My downy pillow see in •ain I press,
And nightly on the conch of sickness turn t
I wake when all Is hushed. Cottle gentle sleep I
0, cool my throbbing brew; life's feta cat;
ti sense of palnin dull obilirien steeP,
And lull reflection With tby opiate balet ;-
Or, Wider still—in blissful vision shed,
The NNW of happier days around my wary bead!

„LONDON IMP4OnligNl4,

_

VSOK 11111 IflrW moarramr NAlNkillig.

I love improvement ; I admire tat noble spirit of
enterprise. which prompts the achieriement of great na-
tional benefits; and whether it is by. the construction
, of subways, railways, bridgesOutmers,
;Canals,.o;2: the.
• projectors have my full meed of rake;
_:.
We are certainly is wiser than of yore" id these mat-
• ten, and contemplate with laudable horror the barba-
rism of our ancestors, who preferred their. old fashioned
• blind alleys and crooked lanes to the angular *Streets
and airy improvements of Sir Christopher Wren. The,
' good folks had no notion of wasting grcitind for mere.
public convenience— every inch had its ialue, and.
they made the most of it. ' Vet let .us do thews
• justice. The sinvosity of their streets was no type, cif!
their dealings. They were a straight :forward race, at
content in their pent up snuggeries, and, no doubt,'
. throve as well, as the modern and more modish citizen,
. who dispenses a yard of ribbon behind a. mahog
counter, spreads on the floor of his "Emporium"
. Turkey carpet, and looks out for customers throug 1
. squares of plate glass, appropriately mounted in bra •
The shops of our grand-dads, dark and duty thong
they were, were hives pregnant with honey,. and w
no receptacles for drones. The man who could not pa
twenty shillings in the pound was no fit associate for
tradesmen of character; and a bankrupt Wasloisied
upon with that son of instinctive antipativ we feel
when we come in Contact With the hangthan: The.
Old English predilection fbr comfort (a word not to he'
found in any foreign vocabulary), was evidelic ili iq
their domestic. arrangements. • ' * '
Many houses are yet standing in the by-ways of tie
City, replete with every convenience—wide staircase,
. and spacious landings, decorated With •pickirial skill)
. spacious cupboards for the reCepiasn'efitiliStOntialfOs
snug closets 1.1 the stowage of porcelain Panties a$
Indian knicknacks;' and rooms, lofty and spciorssi
_ wainscoted with true British oak, and pion( against ail
the assaults of the weather. These wer'e'steifing Matters,
. any masters, that rnighs.bear .0091dariaors with tlie, ire!
linements of our day ; and would make it a-qtfestionik
whether such domiciles, though • secluded in is 'coon,
and approached trndtr a' gatewg, viiiimitlist-giiiirrat
that human pigetiti-hraise,' A mocleiq.cfstage
.nape;
• ibtripmed Of lath and plaster; a frail protection 'gaped
'the .4 winds of heaven," and where all yder4furnite
muse be' Lillipinian, or lota bit.. Aral-ton williiiitk. bon
-ball the essentiali'required bj you w:r*nts," Tl*"fe W. 411
•ionte sociality too in those days, when neighbours could
shake hands a ith each other across the streetit out of
their garret windows; wheifleaSOns of festivity received'
their customary observance ; and hospitality was spew
by plain speech and solid cheer. Fashion had isof the
• tatight us the hypbcriV deaMilii'ig a W•eCccitise, 4bere-wel
meant none; and we•rather sought to gratify out gu -
by the goodness of the banquet,, than to iticite his' aili
by the display of our gentility''. *•.:- - '
„ . . .0,. a,!.:
For all these reasons, thre ei lirigerini-in my mind,
mixed up with my enthusiasm for local 'motormen
something like regret, whenever a plan meta my eye
for levelling some of those haunts 'Of 'Critr'ftirifitheis,
that are yet spared to us, consecrate:44li they arc by..s9
many heart cheering associations.' it is true, 1. feriktke
object to be a noble one ; and that London may .in time
emulate -old Rome in the classic appearance of it's buil&
nags ; but, Alas ! it will be but the appeeiance. Itortisp
cement is not Roman niarble ; wood Ehglish briar,
I cann t help thinking, would • sheltie. •the. at*cco,
alter the lapse of a handfUl of ye irs s and ibOogh it
may be very delightful for millihere apprentices, of
refined feelings, to serve out tape ant! bob*. 400. an
Italian piazza ; and the tradesman. WhOsi.,Shop ponds
eotaponere magma is constructed on the plan of the Pan-
theon, may dci ive some consolation from 'going into the
Gazette as a man of taste; I adnietirtits h-t/edly &tub ss
irtieilier ;lain brick and mortar are not best after till,
Thus 1 vacillate between my love of wide streets and
stuccoed fronts, niy scion ion for the a, chitecurral
achievements of Greettlhatisltortie, with the faptule of
seeing them timpani-ma '6 it siOefe :to. jar
.pwR dear
Cockney-land,- on d'reVae 1340ci i..aad tit eqopllyeatbuf,
4iaitio • &fedi a for all that of •the once-loved
abodes of our ancestors, on the -other. --- 411 flinty il
warbled with the first, My he..*ts Sikh' the '114:11 OP..'
. ~ t, . ~,
of them as men, '" • ' -
tipindustriosts; honest, frogs I; and so [(nth,
~. Whose word would puss for more thaa they were worth
and I feel it the very barisaritneoffattie to sweep away
the few vestiges that ate left to tiqifttliose ilaisAso-
- and plain dealing:•• ':' 7 41:' .
.."14.1.. .'
~.2;4.
,i
'A few telics yet remain.. not 'only ot spell bdildiass,;
bit of their primitive inhabitants.. They sojourn anorgt
its like *aikido vians,-atunphisfititeit by .theiriatitref.
the times, and regarding every thingbaS 44'. itfisiiilliol:
Gas they bold'iit abhorrence; and some, resolonely op.
. posing the introduction even of oil; particularly in'eatiet
lamps, continuer liege adherents Mae mi;sreautierk; Ail
legitimate usage of shore Out., "441::hitti, or kali kiaa
stood; not tong ago, in Si. Paul's Church-yards I have
often gazed at it with a combination of singular feel-
ings. It was an old giblet-if:lkb and jeweller's, curiously
situate next door to a 'dashingtoerter's. - The'cOatrait
between the looking-glass windows and fashionable
finery of the one, and the antiquated bow-front, distil.
native panes, and elamsrframeb of the other, was Judi:
cons enough. I have often wondered by what earthly
means the owner managed to keep his 'shop open ; for
no One article that he dealt in could' have suited' a ctn.,
coiner of modern times; and 1 could only attribute hit
pertinacity in displaying his goods to the circumstance
of his having acquired a competence in better days,
which enabled him to shew his contempt for the new
fashions, by his strict adherence to the old. Shoe-
buckles, knee-buckles, rings, lockets, brroches,- the
fabrigte of which was, no doubt, mightily the rage in

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