The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-02-26
OUR LONDON LETTER.
Iago Among the Fogs Of London
Why the Sun Never Sets on Hell
Majestv's Domains.
Correspondence of the HERA1D.l
LONDON. January %. 1882


by some writer or orator, that "the
sun never sets on Queen Victoria's
diminionS." Never, till my arrival
on these shores did the full truth of
this exquisite sentiment burst upon
my understanding. Vague ideas of
Its reference to a cham of world
circling colonies, linked at intervals
by British sea supremacy, occasion
Tally fitted athwart my dome of
/ ideality; but it remained for ocular
demonstration to reveal the fact
of its exclusive applicability to this
tight little island" among whose
fogs and odors [ reSpire with more
or less diaicalty). for "a time and
times and the dividing Of time
perhaps longer. The author OF the
sentiment | once regarded as a
patriot; [ now know him to have
been a cynic. A sun that never
rises is not apt to set on anybody's
dominions. The enthusiastic Briton
who returned from a six months
sojourn in sunny Italy, and as his
| feet touched his native soil, raiseO
his eyes heaYenward with the pious
ejaculation: "None O. yer ID
blue skies here" stated the exact
truth 50 far as [ have been able to
discover.
Since last trespassing upon the
patience Of your proof reader, when
were set forth some of the expert
enceS pertaining to an ocean voyage,
my observation of sights and
scenes has been confined entirely to
the city of London. Not an exces-
sively close confinement, solilo-
'quises the cockney or travelled
reader, and he is eminently correct.
If any city in the world can properly
claim the title of the worlds cpl
tome, London is the city entitled to
that distinction. She is what Pro-
fesSor Hamill might term perfect
exemplihcatiOn Of his aIl-compre-
hending art Of elocution; having
form, stress, quality, quantity,
pitch, tar, turpentine, smoke,
and in fact, every con-
ceivable requisite for the illustra-
ton Of that divine science of
sciences" l think it may be writ |
ten down as an axiom, that in es-
saying the treatment Of great sub.
jectS, the mind is not exercised upon
what TO say as upon what not to |
cay. eat least, I'm sure it's so in |
Denmark" In describing a place
so vast and various as London, the |
labor is not to discover material, but
to properly dispose of the ilIimit-
able store Of material on hand; and
the ordinary intellect stands aghast
On the very threshold of the under
taking, staggered at the bare con-
Of the task, and the sub
lime height of its own egOtism in
attempting it. The subject is 80
as scarcely to be COM
1rised even in abridgement, within
he outline Of an ordinary news
PAPER letter. When by dint of hard
linking we imagine we have at
asst unearthed something big
nough to hold it all, suddenly it {
bubbles up and boils over, and like S
he amenders of the old Constitu- c
ion, we find ourselves reduced to
he necessity Of patching up our in
dequate original. or casting it. aside
and conjuring up some 4
ther, to be found in its turn P
qually defective. / shall not at d
enpt, therefore, to encompass the ?
rails Of this Jericho, in the blowing Il
p of one horn at least, but rather q
axe it down gently after the man n
er of day laborer, and present it y
your readers piecemeal; and if q
she mind can make substance and p
eOple planets of its own" and >
yron says it can, the young reader e!
18th lively imagination and Eu- n
'pean guide book, may be able to 5;
'sist me in forming some idea of u
le rise and character of a city cap Il
Die Of numbering its inhabitants G.
z millions, as noted for wealth. II
'lendor and intelligence as for oi
)verty, ignorance and degradation, CT
Id the date Of whose origin is lost IL
the legendary ages of antiquity. al
London is situated on four sides u
the Thames-north, south, upper D
Id under-and supports popula OF
Oh Of upwards Of four millions of al
uls, according to CARLYLE n
Mostly fools" The assertion Il
as originally applied to Y
-eat Britain, and is undoubtedly al
we're, but interpreted in one sense al
IdOubtedly true; but among her al
jter nations, who doubtless have e1
.pped their hands in glee over the er
tness Of the epigram, which is it la
at feels itself in position to cast IN
e first stone? Mankind is pretty nc
1ch the same, the world over. No w
rtIcular section has a corner ON en-
alns-not even Ohio-and fine W
bad but incisive pen of the old be
otch esSayiSt might have made ia
e Gregory, a 'swashing blow fol
1t would have sWeptin the whole I
restrial universe, without much WI
II OF successful confutation, To po
'perly appreciate the fitness Of 10,
term upper and under" as de- he
1ptlYe of certain portions of fins lst
collOcation of human do. tn
Giles, one need but stand mon th'
; emoankment of the Thames riI
. survey the hundreds of steam 6ri
, barges and boats Of vari0ns do Ut
Upton upon which so manv neo- de;
pass their lives; the numerous tht
~. 7,-nVr-Io.I dou4.' LII Jus 4 ~v,o