Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-05-31
LIFE In LONDON.
JHs LIGHT AND SHADE OF SEEING
LIFE. ,.fs az
A Stroll Along Fleet Strset-0Id Temple
Bar Its Aseeiatioas-A Liter.
ary ThOsoughfars-0r. John
S. son's Abodes.
ST. PaUl's MAJESTIC APPEARANCE

SDfClal Orfr- pDuOfuCrO W nCtATf-t
@Whst do you think OF LoaJonf s
the question that IL p'opounded to me
daily by some fresh Euglishman
chance to meet. would hardly un-
dertake to answer that query With the
experience OF but ten days "life in Lon
don" The metropolis is such q vast
world in itsslf that it might De divided,
socially, politically, and one might say
every other way. into thousands OF clss-
si6cations, and then columns could be
written upon each OF these divisionA
n was the opinion Of DIR. johnson.
That in London q man stored his mind
better than anywhere else; and that IN
remote situations a mans body might
be Toasted, but his mind was starved and
his faculties apt to degenerate from want
of exercise and competition" mo
place" he said, "cured mans vanity
or arrogance 50 we'll as London; for as
no man was either great or good per e,
but as compared with others not 30 good
or great, he was sure 10 find in the met
ropolis many his equals and some his
superiors." The extremes, in every
point OF view, are daily to be met with
in the metropolis; from the most rigid,
perseyering, never.tiring industry, down
TO laziness, which, in its consequences,
frequently operates far worse than idle
ness. The greatest love OF ami con-
te mpt Tor money are equally consplcu-
ous: and in no place are pleasure and
business so much united rs IN London.
The highest veneration Tor and practice
cf religion distinguishes the metropolis,
contrssted with the most hOrrid COM
mission Of crimes, and the experience
of the oldest inhabitant scarcely rend-
ers him safe against the specious plans
and articles continually laid to entrap
the most yigilant The next door neigh
Dor of man in London is generally as
great a stranger TO him as il he lived at
the distance OF York. Ii is in the met
ropolis that the lowest kinds OF vices
are practiced; yet honor, integrity and
independence OF soul are to be- found in
every street in London. Hundreds OF
persons are always going to bed In the
morning, besotted with dissipation and
gaming, while thousands OF her Males.
tvs liege subjects are quitting their pill
lows TO pursue their useful occupations.
The most bare-faced Williams, swindlers
and thieves walk about the streets In
the day time, committing their
various depredations with as
much confidence as men OF unblemish-
ed reputation and honesty. In short,
the most vicious, and abandoned
wretches, who are lost to every friendly
tie that binds man to man, are to be
found in swarms in the metropolis; yet,
notwithstanding this dark and melan-
choly part Of the picture, there are some
OF the worthiest, tender hearted, liberal
minds, and charitable dispositions
which ornament London, and render it
the delight and happiness OF society.
No city on the globe has so many be-
neyolent institutions and societies as
London. His Excellency, the Lord
Mayor of London, ia always the first
person called upon and the first to re-
spond to the appeals OF q suffering or
famine stricken people, from whatever
part OF the world, the cry is heard.
All old cities, il is said, get rich in
association, and London, by reason OF
its antiquity, is richer in association
than any modern place on earth. The
stranger scarcely takes q step without
encountering some new object OF inter-
est. The other day / took stroll along
the Strand and Fleet street; such q one
as old Ben Johnson or Shakespeare
OFT enjoyed. Old Temple Bar, recently
demolished, marked the boundry be-
tween the two streets. The statues OF
Charles the First and Charles the Sec
ond, On its western front, would be re-
markable anywhere as characteristic
portraits. You stand beside this arch
and quite forget the passing throng, and
q ke no heed OF the tumult around, rs
you think Of johnson and Boswell lean.
ing against this wall, alter mid night. in
the fir-of times and waking the echoes
of the Temple Garden With their frolic-
some laughter. Passing this no longer
visible boundary Won hni yourself in
Fleet street. The first house on the
CITY side OF the Bar is Cnild's banking
house, dating from 1920 and built on the
see %. th- Devil Tavern, where Ben.
Jonson ~ isued, as Dryden afterwards
dad at Wills A few steps on is Middle
rerrple Lane, and little fsIthe,
down Fleet street IL the
y,trway OF Inner Temple: two
rsmous Inns Of Court. The Temple Was
50 nan ell hom the Knights Templar
sho r, moved their sbole thither from
Thayie,' Inn, Holborn, in lisa. Pro-
~, dlrg down the Lane to Queen Tem-
pie, YOU pass DIR. Johnson's Buildings,
so named in memory OF the great lexi-
rOera;her, Who lived ut No. in this
Lane. At the foot Of the Lane is the
western doorway OF the Temple Church
built hy the Knights L, ,mplar in llS5.
after their return nom the second cru.
SADIE. Oliver Go'dsmith was buried east
OF the chCir in liza. The Temple gar
dens are hesut iul ,r-en retreats from
the midst OF dirty. noisy city, and, 10
stranger turning in suddenly from
7 ct rect, are peculiarly agreeable
suIpris'. Shakespeare has made these
gardens flrever famous BY his scene
dsi crioti,e OF the origin Of the Wars of
u Roses. There are no roses now-a-
DAYS in Temple Gardens: the
smoke will not permit them to
grow. Nearly opposite Middle
Teuple Lane is the Cock Tavern, once
a notsd place for steaks, and stout, and
fine old port, and as such made memor-
able by Tennyson, whose address to the
plump head waiter at the Cock" to
''ietch pint OF port" exhibits quite a
sense of humor
Fleet street still maintains the closest
ASSOCIATION with literature. Ii is famous
tor the number OF its newspaper offices.
Here, besides a multitude Of weekly
papers and periodicals, are published the
Duly News, the DuSy Telegraph, the
Morning .tdrerii~r, the Standard, the
Doity Chronicle. PuHch, etc. "Dr. John
son, says Leigh Hunt, ais the oenius Ioci.
the presiding spirit Of Fleet street. He
was eonversant for the greater part OF
his lie with this street, was fond of II
trsqnented its tavern and has idsn'
hned Its name and places with the l.st
things he ever said and did. Here he
walked and talked and Shoulders
wondering parties out OF the vay. and
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