Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1883-06-16

armed guafuS, anu u pace Oh -FOUR Inii6S
an hour was not considered slow. Turn
pike gates barricaded the roads at short
distances, and though the highwayman.
Mr.. Hall says. had gone out, f)otpads
still fiourished, so that the enterprising
was fain to advertise that the road was
patrolled nightly by his own
''elght stout fellows armed with blud-
geons" for the exclusive protection of
his patrons. London had not yet en-
tered seriously upon its work of swal-
lowing England; there was turnpike.
gate at Hyde Park corner, Mulreadv
could sketch q gravel-plt in Russell
] Square, and blackberries were gathered
along the rural lane where the South
Kensington Museum now stands. En-
| velopes were not, and waters were not
| used unless when writing to trades
man or an inferior. Postage cost any
where from q shilling to half crown,
but then every one begged franks or
| smuggled his letters by carriers or
friends. Newspapers cost sevenpence
each, but there was not much profit on
them even at that price, since the tax
on every paper was fourpence, with no
deduction for copies unsold or returned
and the duty ON advertisements was
three shillings and sixpence each. The
only use known for 1ndia-rubber was
the erasure of pencil-marks; no one had
vet been 50 visionary as to advertise ice
for sale; elections were literally "fought
out" by bands of hired roughs; slavery
had but recently been abolished; prize
fighting was national institution, and
dOg-fghting, cock-fighting, and bull
batting were not yet illegal pastimes.
Passing the Old Bailey in 1915 young
Hill saw six men and woman hanging
on the same gallows, and no wonder, for
there were two hundred and twenty
three capital offenses on the statue books
and some ninety culprits were hanged an
nually, some in chains to feed the crows
and tester slowly away. The pillory and
and women, naked to the waist, were
whipped Through the town" at the
CARTS tail, and the ducking-stool had not
yet gone out of fashion. ody-snatching
was profitable calling. The bodies of
suicides were buried at night, at the in
tersection of crossroads, pinned down
with stakes driven through the chest or
bowels. Dueling was all the rage in
both islands. Debtors rotted in the
prisons, while criminals could buy every
luxury except liberty; lunatics were
locked in solitary cells and disciplined
with the whip. Men of all ranks swore
even in the presence of ladies, and in
temperance was scarcely less prevalent
than profanity. Smuggling was carried
on on a gigantic scale, and gentle
men of rank and station thought it no
degradation, much less crime to in
dulge in it. The hatred of France was at
its worst, and Mr.. Halls earliest lesson
from his father, an officer of the good
old school of pig-tails and hair powder,
was: "Be good boy, love your mother,
and hate the French" followed by the
practical counsel, of you meet six
Frenchmen, run away; if there are only
three, lick themp Indeed, it was not
necessary for Briton bold to have come
to years of maturity, to be of the mascu-
line sex, or to have been born even, in
in order to make war. Mr.. Halls BROTH
er was an officer in his fathers regi-
ment, wore the uniform and drew pay
at eight, no discredit attaching to such
an appointment, which was one of the
coloneps perquisites, and the familiar
story of the major "greetin' for his par
ritch" in the nursery is capped by one
of baby commissioned before it's
birth and, as it turned out girl
given boys name to save the
appointment. The press-gang roamed
the streets at night, often under the
command of boy midshipmen, to steal
men for the navy, or even raided ham,
lets remote from the shore. Privateers
swarmed the seas on enterprise not ma
terially differing from piracy.
The picture which Mr.. Halt gives of the
London periodical press in his day is by
HDff r1ln
picture is given of the Rev. Henry Bate,
editor Of the Morning Post" whose
"time was spent in the green rooms of
theatres, where he was pest; who al
though an ordained clergyman. fought
several duels, and obtained. by the in
fluence of the Prince of Wales, to whose
evil habits he had pandered, a lucra-
tive church living; and subsequently a
baronetcy." Another very interesting
section of Mr.. Halls book is that in
which he gives the history of the Art
Journal, and of his crusade in behalf of
good taste. In 1S43, he tells
us no manufacturing establishment
had an art staff or an artist. If
a new design was wanted, "bits" were
taken from old ones, or one was impor-
ted from the Continent and modified to
suit the market. Staffordshire produced
ugly pottery; Kidderminster sent out
carpets with designs of roses a foot
square, temples. aud rock-work; Shelf
field had made little change in its pat
terms for century; Manchester paid
high prices for early pieces of French
silk or cotton goods. The condition of
British art was disheartening "The
greater artists of the century 'fourished :,
indeed, but art was to them, with scarce
ly an exception, only a bare means of
subsistence" Sculpture was in still
more deplorable condition, and Mr..
Halls subscribers used to return "statue
plates' of the Art Journal with protests
against such attempts to introduce in
decency into families. "Not once, but
many times" says Mr.. Hall, "have I
been present at private view of the
Royal Academy, where, excepting por-
traits of men and women, of horses and
dogs, there was not Il single picture sold
by any artist throughout the day, nor
was the price of any picture inquired
about. l remember we'll the excite
ment that was produced when buzz of
establishment passed through the great
room, Lord Lansdowne has bought Tur-
ner's Dict1re for two hundred pOundsl''