AN AMERICAN'S DESCRIPTION OF LONDON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6966, 15 March 1884, Page 10 (Supplement)

AN AMERICAN'S DESCRIPTION OF LONDON.

Thk following, written by its correspondent in LondoDj appears in a late Sari Francisco newyp:ip- r • —. iQiagipe a city as large as "New 1 York, Philadelphia,. Brooklyn, Chicago, Boston, New Orleans, St. Louis', ■Sin Francisco, and Washington combined, a a. city in which IfiO.COO .strangers enter every day;- a city in which 28 miles' of streets and 9;000 uew'hpuses are. built; every year, a city ■whose water supply is. 50,000,000 gallous daily, and whose sewers carry off 10,0,0:t of refuse every 24 hours-, a city whose resident population is larger than all Scotland and 'Switzerland, ah.d almost equal to that of Belgium. Such is London, the largest,, wealthiest; and most wicked place in the world. In no other city ia there so much luxury and so much .misery. Here vice docs not hide itself in its own dens, but atajks abroad, reeking, shameless, rainpapt. Like the ghost of the murdered Ban quo, " it will nbt down." At the theatres, musiq-halls, restaurants, on the cfowdcd Strand,. Oxford street, elegant Pall. Mall, and fashionable Piccadilly, everywhere it crosses yonr path ;and' shodks your "love of the human." More barefaced, bold, and hideous vice is seen in cue night in London than New York displays in a month or San Francisco in a year. Drunkenness is alinost a universal vice, and is not c .infilled to the lower orders or to the male sex. Women of fashion, of high social, position, titled ladies, drink to excess. They keep their private brandy bottles at the shops down town where they deal, and have it charged in thiir bills as " trimmings." At parties they get fuddled with champagne ami' reel through, the dance, and are often sent borne in their carriages in a state of intoxication. Owing to the darkness which prevails here three-fourths of the. year and leaves very little daylight, the London hours are very late. Before 10 in the'morning the streets, are almost deserted. Mine is considsred an early hour for breakfast, and 6 an early hour for dinner. Parliament sits at night, arid often all night. At midnight the streets a re :more"cro\vded thari nt mid-day. The numerous theatres are well attended, and do not depend so much on stars as with us . English audiences are riot critical, and much easier pleased thaa American audiences.. After the theatres the «atinghouses on tho Strand are full of people, and this continues until 1 o'clcick, when they arc closed for the night. The English are great meit-eaters and tea-drinkers. Only black tea is-used, ani it is as strong as lye and about as unpalataKlo: The coffee is good in London, but in Liverpool it was made of .Jamaica berries and chicory, a composition •which I could not drink. The bread and butter-are. not particularly good. At the Arundel Hotel, where 1 am stopping, four meals are served 1 every day—breakfast; lunch, dinner and supper; The breakfast is quite a substantial meal,.including fish, eggs; meat, bread, coffee or tea ; the lunch is cold-meat and bread and butter. Dinner is the great meal .of: the day, arid consists of six Courses, ■viz., soup, lish, entrees, riieats, dessert, cheese, and celery. ■ Supper is from S to 10, and is a vory light ropast !of bread arid tea or coffee. The meals are well served. The waiters ■ wear, the regulation dress-coat and white cravat. They are. always polite; and geueraily attentive except'.at breakfast, when, this-guest has to wait .fifteen minutes for .ham-arid-eggs and a- cup of coffee. 1. rriiss at dinner the. abundant variety of vegetables that we hiiye in America. - ■ Irish potatoes arid cauliflower are the only vegetables and they are served; with monotonous regularity. 1 miss many conveniences which are considered indispensable at home. -The gas is very poor;, the bedr ..rooms cold, the- beds'- hard, the towels too stiff; tho water' -stale arid the bed-clothes insufficient. Tipping is general. The heafi . waiter, expects to be liberally remembered/ though for what I have never been able to ascertain.... Your own especial waiter expects, to be,tipped; boots expocts to be: tipped, the chambermaid expects to be tipped. If .you visit a public building—the.Bank of England, for instance—the man who Bhows you.through expects, a shilling and .The Bank: covers .../ihree acres, and lias; about ,500 oia-, ployees. ; Mauy. of them-.commence as junior clerks at the age or sixteen, and aftor.serving

forty years retire on a pension. The bank is guarded every night by a captain and thirtyfour men. ■ The amount of specie in the vaults is incalculable. Every note of the Bank of ■England is destroyed when it returns to the . bank and a new one issued. Tho smallest note, issued is iu, and so an up to £10,000. The" \\ est of London, and', and Kensington, is. filled' with : acres,:of • the palaces..of,-the aristocracy.aridfgeDtry;'.:.: The. outsideis of theVhoiiaes fare all' blackened by" the inevitable London smoke, but the insides are luxuriously, furnished —masterpieces of art cover- the walls and beautiful stitues embellish the halls ;/and while all the monuments/and statues / outside have zlpst their original/ beauty: these retain: their fairness untarnished. : ; The Queen is not so popular as she: was, twenty-five years ago; Her long seclusion, .from: society since the death of Pi.ince:Albert ,has taken ,irom her much of affection, of all classes. The Princess of Wales is the most popular of the / Royal' Family. Her beauty and .sweet; gracious dignity -early.- won-the. love of the English, people, and. she has always retained it: The Prince of Wales is ;more .'popular now than formerly.' His/devotion tohunting.and other manly sports: :is highly, appreciated: by all Englishmen./ Railroad travelling m England possesses, many advantages,' When • you arrive at the station a porter approaches,: takes your satchel;, asks you where you are grang, whether you; have a tieket shows you where to buy.it; escorts you to your train, puts your baggage in : the rack bowß and retires; and . doesn't even; lppk dike he. expected s shilling.. Five minutes, before the train -starts'" the guard comes round and examines your, ticket to see: that you are ./in the right traiu and the right /car. . All the officials, behave as the servants of the public.'