New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-11-15
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
HOW LIFE WAS LIVED IN ENGLAND THEN

TENTH CENTURY. Chapters In the social H,s-
two volumes. 1smo, PIP. X, 3ol Will 4o7' Mac
milan d Co.
These volumes do not constitute formal history
Of the eighteenth century, but present series OF
chapters in which various aspects of eighteenth
century life are illustrated. A great deal has
already been printed about this interesting period
more, certainly, than Mr.. Sydney appears willing
to allow-but it may readily be granted that he is
the first to bring into our focus all the peculiari
ties of the time, and so to furnish something ike
connected and complete picture. To those VINO
are fond of praising the past at the expense Oh
the present these chapters must be full OF en-
barrassment, however; for they conclusiveiy snow
that the England of the eighteenth century must
have been-judged by modern lights-a very I'M
comfortable place to live in, and its mhaoitants
o decidedly backward and in many respects par
barous, people In his first chapter Mr.. sydney
treats of the London of our grandfathers, and
queer London it was nor can it be said that the
end of the eighteenth century left it much better
than the beginning found it, We are accustomed
70 think that the streets of modern New-fork
under Tammany rule are bad enough; and SO no
doubt they are; but 90 or $50 years ago they
would have been thought perfect.
Our ancestors were doomed to take their walks
abroad in narrow thoroughfares bordered with still
narrower sidewalks, all equally paved with cobble-
stones. The roadway sloped to the middle. down
which the gutter ran. STRENGTHENING and mend
ing there was none. Locomotion was always at
the peril Of life and limb. Pedestrians had no
rights, On the sidewalks rufianly sedan-chair
bearers jostled and crushed whomsoever they met.
Carriages, carts and drays sent the contents Of
the innumerable puddlcs in showers over every
body and everything. When it rained thousands
of gargoyles spouted streams from the housetops
upon the people in the streets below. The century
was we'll spent before Jonas Hanways introduce
ton of the umbrella was accepted by the highly
conservative British public For years any man
who dared to raise an umbrella In the street was
certain to be ieered and joked at as French
man. and might be mobbed. Then. too, the
streets were never and nowhere safe. The law
could afford no protection TO the citizens The
only pretence of a police was body of super
animated old fogics called watchmcn, who
slept away their nights in wooden sentry-boXes,
who sometimes woke people up by yelling the time
of night who never by any chance hindercd law
lessness murder, robbery, duelling, or any other
form Of violence and outrage and who served
little better purpose than to furnish bolsterous
amusement to parties of drunken jewellers, who
were particularly fond of capsizing their boxes
over the old men and thus making them prisoners.
Il was a very coarse age in most respects The
life of its beauty and bellies, here illustrated in much
detail was perhaps not greatly more frivolous
and inane than that of their peers to-day. Dut IL
was certainly more lacking in material refinement
In the eighteenth century men drank deeply ana
steadily. Statesmen like Pitt and Fox thought
nothing Of finishing their three bottles apiece be-
fore they went down to the House of Commons.
They gambled too. and even more reclSlessy than
they drank Gambling. indeed was one Of the
most marked vices of the period. Every one has
heard Of FoX's desperate gaming. and he was only
a type of his class. AS to the masses. they lived
either in coarse abundance or in unmaginable
squalor. Tradesmen almost universally resided
over their shops. and no doubt were much morn
economical than their successors. They also
drank. if they did not gamble like their social
superiors. Drunkenness among the poor was car
ried to fearful lengths. Hogarth. in his Gin
Lane, illustrated some Of its most appalling as
poets. The introduction of gin proved almost as
demoralizing as that Of opium in China. 1t was
at once so cheap and SO potent that publcans
actually put up placards. advertising that the
public could in their places become drunk
for one penny, and blind drunk for twopence ;:
and some Of them. as a special inducement. Of
fered clean straw for the devotees of gin TO lie
upon until they had slept themselves sober. The
majority of the eighteenth century Englshmen were
it must be owned, personally anything but clearly,
and this applies not only to the poor. but to men
and women Of good social standing and education.
This is ono reason why strong perfumes were then
greatly employed They served 10 conceal what
soap and water would much better have removed.
AS for the common people. they were little adj
vanced beyond the habits Of the Middle Ages
which is equivalent TO saying that they lived
like pigs.
In London the colee-houscs were the chief
sources of information and sociability, ard about
them much and various knowledge has been pre-
served, thanks TO the men of letters who fire.
quentcd them and wrote of them. Mr.. Sydrey's
chapter on them is full of interest. though on
this topic he has not much that is to tell us
or the life in the country his account is frcsheI
and quite full curious Circumstance which
stands out in this chronicle is the extreme re-
lfctance of the people TO have improved com
munications. Up TO and beyond the middle OF
the century the roads of England were a rule
horribly bad They were so bad that the short
est journey upon them involved risk of life and
limb. No man of any substance would have then
thought Of going from London 10 York, for en-
ample, without making his will before he set out
and arranging his affairs Even the King could
not be guaranteed against the upsetting of his
coach, and such accidents TO the stages were OF
daily occurrence. But despite the vilanous state
OF the roads and highways throughout the king.
dom, the majority resisted all plans for improve,
ment ard sometimes the drivers of the stage
coaches actually refused TO use new roads after
they had been made The roads. however, were
not only DOGGY; they were infested by thieves
footpads and highwaymen. Mr.. Sydney gives
ample illustrations of the dangers which beset
the traveller from this bandittr. Highway
robbery all about London commoner than
begging is at present. And yet the law had
never been more severe.
In the last century there was little regard fol-
human life. More than 10 offences were fel
sides punished by death The gallowS wa:
MAYER idle Mem Women even children. went In