New-York daily tribune., 1843-08-19
Letters from Nr. Weed =. No. \.
eo,,..,ondsoec = Of tho Albany Evening Journal.

LoNpoN Julv IA, 1853
1,b;s great Metropolis has been strangely ma
,;oned. in regard to its climate, or we have been
strangely fortunate in our visit; for instead OF
the smoke, vapors, fogs and rains, which we had
been taught to dread, we have enjoyed genial
atmosphere bright sun, with occasional but re-
freshing showers, for five successive days.
London, like the Cataract of Niagara, IS con-
stantly growing upon the wonder and admiration
of strangers. | am just beginning TO oe con-
scious Of the impossibihty of comprehendmg ITS
wealth, its magnitude and Its Inagnlfcence.-
Ride for hours, in whatever direction you please,
and the same evidences of golden conGuests are
presented. All the nations of the earth must
have been paying tribute, for centuries, to Lon
don, or these untold and incompatible millions
could not have been concentrated here.
I was wondering this morning how much
{" Provant" was required to furnish this army OF
people with rations. An inquiry shows that
I.5OO,OOO quarters eight bushels) of wheat are
required annually TO supply London with bread,
that 100000 tons of fish are caught here (oi
which 45,CO0 tons are fresh salmon,) annually;
the annual consumption Of butter is estimated at
40,O00000 lbs, and the price varies from is. to
Is. Cd, or from two to three shings our cur
rency. Of meats | can get no estimate but
there is brought annually to Smithhed- Market
alone, 100000 oxen, 450000 hogs or pigs, $780,
COO sheep or lambs, and %, 900 calves: of milk,
it is said that II 900 cows supply the metropolis
with 8,030,O00 gallons annually, at an average
price of Is. l0d. per eight quarts. Eggs are sent
here in great quantities. in crates, by water, from
Ireland, Belgium, Holland and France, and sold
sometimes as low as Sd. per dozen, but generally
from ls to Is. Cd. Hogs are fatted here in the
yards of fbreweres and dstileries, for while every
thing of the grain kind is called corn," that
product is not grown here. Hams sell at I'D,
shoulders at 3D., and smoked side pork at 3D., IN
the retail stalls and shops. This is Just double
the price with us.
Every body drinks BEER in England. have
astonished waters, in two or three instances, by
asking for water. When you seat yourself al
table in q sCoffee Room or " Steak House, for
dinner and have ordered your "jont' or " steak"
or " chop the waiter inquiries " Hale, porter
or stout sir 2'' If in place Of either of these
national beverages, you reply acater, he either
laughs in your face or turns away wondering
where such wild chap could have been caught.
Now that / have seen something of English
habits | am astonished that Miss MARTINEAu
should have deemed the circumstance that two
or three American women with whom she met,
were "not all for love, but little for the bottle,
worthy of remark. The drinking of hale, porter
and stout, is universal here, with the females OF
the poorer classes, when they get it, and with
those Of the better classes of mechanics, females,
people and shop-kcepers While at dinner at
Birmingham, it was observed by all Of us, that
the ladies "a DOZEN at table, drank porter as If
they were thirsty, and as if it did them good
The lady opposite to me, who was well dressed
and well educated, disposed of nearly an entire
bottle. You meet ladies at every turn OF the
streets in London, g the rubric of whose faces
shows the shrnes at which they kneel.'' have
met ladies at Exhibition Rooms, whose fiery faces
entitled them to the distinction of being classed
with Shakspeare's knights of the burning
lamp" And you find every sidewalk blocked
up with lusty ladies, who are indebted for their
rubicund faces and rotund persons, to habitual
beer drinking / yesterday sat IN an omnibus
with an old lady and gentleman, evidently OF the
wealthy class, the latter OF whom was victim
to gout, while the former displayed face and
nose the maintenance of which had cost as much
as Falstafr paid for sack" to keep Bardolph' s
ealamander in fire.
Wewentlas night TO the Adelphi Theatre. where
the leading attraction was ''Thc Wizard of the
North" whose wonder working powers of magic,
if we may believe the show-bs, have procured
for him a command to repair to st. Petersburgh
man is indeed wizard The dclusions prac
tised cast Monsieur Adrent, Signor Blltz, and all
other magicians into deep shade. Let me aston
ish YOU with few specimens. He came into
the boxes and obtained a five pound note from
one gentleman, and asked another (any one who
chose) to write sentence upon a slip of paper.
The note and paper were folded so that the wizard
could not see either the number Of the former or
the sentence upon the other, and then laid upon
a plate, set tire 90 by a taper consumed, and the
ashes blown about the stage. The wizard then
announced the number of the Bank Note, re-
peated the sentence on the slip of paper, and a
page returned these articles to the owners in a
box which the wizard had not touched He
then handed a box 10 gentleman nearest the
stage, and requested him to dcposite any article
he chose in it, and to pass 1t around for similar
deposits by ladies and gcntlemen promiscuously,
he standing upon the stage. When the deposits
had been made, he requested that the box should
be placed where he could see 1t, with the lid
down, and standing at least sixty feet from 1t, he
named every article which 1t contained. lie re-
qucsted ladies and gentlemen 10 loan hun their
handSerchletS, when We're thrown to HIM from
all parts of the theatre. When collected and
counted, to the number of | l. they were placed
in large ever, into which q servant poured Il
large bucket of water. Having been thoroughly
saturated, the handkerchiefs were rlnscd and
wrung, and then spread, one by one, into another
vessel, upon each one OF which some blazing ma
gical elixir was poured; and within FIVE minutes
the handkerchieis were placed upon salyer and
returned to the owners washed, dried, ironed
folded and pcrfumed /! And all this was done
openly, without turning away from the audience,
and without any of the numbering accompani.
lnents of ordinary jugglery.
We devoted the morning to the pursuit of what
is classic ground TO Americans, and what had for
me the additional interest of professional associa.
tons. We found, at No. S4 Lincoln's Inn