The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1897-07-17
JoHNsoN's LONDON.
1t Wa Practically Intact Up to a Century
Ago,

1t Was Practically Intact Up to a Century
Ago.
Little o than a century ago
DR.. Johnson's London was practical
ly intact. Old London bridge still
stood, filling with it's eminently pic
torial houses very much the position
of the old Pont Neuf in Paris. The
Fleet river still rolled its course-a
muddy and i'll smelling course, it is
true-down Harrington street and
across Ludgate circus to the Thames.
The very name of New Bridge street
was probably derived from the
handsome structure at Bridewell,
which formed part of Wren's fine
scheme for the rebuilding of the
city after the fire. From a river the
Fleet sank to be a ditch, and then
it became the underground sewer
which it has ever since remained.
Then you might still be relieved Of
your purse by highwaymen on
Moorfields or be molested by fresh
water pirates" in the Pool.
The old privileges of the guilds
were in full force, and the great
offices of the corporation we're mat
tiers of bargain and sale. Yet, even
when Farmer George was young,
we may see the beginnings of the
city which we know today. The
streets were uncomfortably crowd
ed, the pavements were shocking
and the roadways almost as bad.
When poor Mrs. Gilpin jolted and
lurched along in her chaise, "as
though Cheapside were mad" the
noise must have been deafening.
And, for the matter of that, so rapid
and thorough have been modern
improvements in London, within
and without the walls, that it is
difficult to realize that well within
the last 20 years Fleet street itself
was still paved as Cheapside was
the day the Gilpins went to Edmon-
ton and Ware. The aldermanic tur-
tie is almost as modern as the city
pavements, for it was not until 1868
that it first appeared at those civic
feasts which it was destined to grace
in pe%rpetuity. 1t is true that well
paved streets were not so important
in the days when the Thames was
still the highway of the genteel and
when even the lord mayors O
sion was a water pageant.
1t may be doubted whether Lon
don ever was a very quiet place. A
hundred years back it must have
been almost as noisy as it is now.
When there YER no drays or
"chariots' to roll over the cobbles,
there were still the criers of fine
Strawberries" and the hawkers of
all manner of eatables, the purvey-
ors of lavender and dozens of other
itinerant vendors. So late as 80
years ago London Cries" was a
popular nursery book, despite the
villainous illustrations. In this mat
ter of town noises municipal admin
istration has made but little prog
ress, though 1t is only fair to say
that the city is now a far quieter
place in the late evening than Ken
sington OF Belgravia. Much that
we find in MI. Welch's book reads
curiously ancient. Yet it is not so
long since the Tower received polit-
ical prisoners-Mr. Wilkes and Sir
Francis Burdett were both sent
there by an ~exasperated legislature
and lotteries were officially drawn
at Guildhall. The Tower, though
still technically a fortress, with no
ingress II egress after a given hour
of the night, is now mainly a muse
UNI, and the wheel of fortune which
once revolved in Guildhall yard has
given place to the Mansion House
relief funds. London Standard.