Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-10-27
The Streets of London

In the crowded Strand, how pleasant 10 re
member the boy Coleridge thrusting his hand
sgainst gentleman pocket while in the fan
citui act OF swimming the Hellespont, an
instance Of classical delusion that 50 won the
wrathful man, that he subscribed 10 a circu.
iating library, IN the urchin's name, FOR
tWelyemonth! How charming 10 think tha.
lnductiye Bacon aDd heroic Harry Vsne were
born there, and that against yonaer pillar of
Temple Bar DR.. johnson leaned one night
going home with Boswell, AMI INDUCED in
such an unprecedented fit Of laughter a. o.
frighten his puritan satellite. Walking aftec
nightfall, by the cheerful shops of Oxford
street, how vividly De Quinceys pallid and
lofty brow rises before us; here he fret bought
opium, and met poor Ann, a hungry wan
derer; and subsequently, apostrophiIed that
husy thoroughfare as q " stony hearted step-
mother that listens TO the sigbs Of orphans
and drinks the tears Of children y At the
Tower, who, with a heart in his bosom, does
not turn from armOr aud regalis to the in
scriptions on Sir Wsl'er Raleigh g cell, and 70
thought OF Otway dying at a neighboring
tavern, choked by the bread TIA: came too
late? In front Of Apsley House, who, with
ray OF Imagination, does not glance az Beck
tord's old residence adjscsntl IL not COrnhiIl
g!Orifed by the memory Of Gray who was born
there, at number forty one2 Shall we cross
Westminster bridge, and not think of poor
his pocket the night before his unfortunate
application to Burke! or enter Bloomsbury
square, nor try to identify Steele's fine house
upon which Addison vaiDly levied an attach
ment, to bring his improyident friend 70 his
senses or pass through Smith6eli, uumiDdful
Of Bunyan and Wesley! or Green Arbor Court.
and not bless the author OF - The Vicar of
Wakefield and 80 The Deserted Village"
who there taught poor children to dance? Il
it quite grateful to ascend the old stairs at
Somerset House, on our way to the Royal
Society, aad imagine Crom mwell, grim and
StalwaTt, lying in state, and not elegant Sir
Joshua Reynolds lecturing on art Let us
ever behold, in fancy, when in Duke street,
our own Franklin, journeymsn printer; in
Brooke street, be haunted by Chatterton's
suicide; IN the poultry, imagine Hood, an in
fant; in Great Russell, near Bow street, do
homage TO Dryden in his oracular seat at
Wits; and opposite, to the aatbSr of Cato, !"
escsped from domestic annoyance, n Buttons;
let us not return from a party, beneath the
stars, through st. James street. without pitiful
recollection of Savage wandering there, at
the same hour, for want of shelter; and fail
pot, by way of contrast, in Pail Mall, I'd NOR
slize On the prosperity OF Sir William Temple,
lear the site Of his noble mansiOn. Let the
'Elegy, aud the law Of grayitatiOn, recur Ia
Us in JeImyn street where Gray and Sir Isaac
Newton lived. Let US not despiSe HartshOrn
lane, Tor Ben JOnsOn was born there, nor
Jorge: To smile once more at Isaac Bickerstafs
Wit. la Salisbury street, where Partridge the
almanac maker dwelt. Ii is worth while to
cay to one 5 self, in passing Oid Bond street,
that Sterne died there, and in Berkeley square
Horace Walpoie, and among the bschelors
cf the Albany" IS We enter that shrine Of eel
ibate luxury, to recall byron, Canning, and
Monk Lewis. Thus, a. every step, rise up
familiar beings, 10 solemnize or cheer, and
people the memorable sites Of London The
variety Of character is as great as that OF
gifts; and the mind is be~illered by the nun
ber and contrast of these intellectual slmOners,
whose bounty ia thus recalled where the place
that once knew them knows them no more.
H. r. TackermaH'S "hOAth IH England"