is almost destitute of cultivation and of habitations; only a few sheep are to be seen, here and there, grazing upon it, and, but for the constant travelling and the absence of trees, it might be taken for a part of an American wild. Yet the whole of it is within ten miles of the capital. We soon began to perceive a cloud of smoke hanging over London, and designating its situation. We arrived at Brentford, a large town, seven miles from London, and thence the houses formed almost a continued row, so that one might have supposed himself riding through a street of the city.

Hyde Park, with its extended fields, fine forest trees, and promiscuous assemblage of pedestrians, coaches and horsemen, soon came into view on our left;we whirled rapidly by it, and, at Hyde Park corner, abruptly entered the Metropolis of the commercial world. We drove through Piccadilly, and were instantly involved in the noise and tumult of London. We were obliged to hold fast as we were driven furiously over rough pavements, while the clattering of the wheels, the sounding of the coachman's horu, and the sharp reverberations of his whip, had there been no other noises, would have drowned conversa. tion, and left us to admire and wonder in silence, at the splendor of the English capital. I had long been anticipating the emotions which I should experience on entering London. But, I was not a little disappointed at finding myself perfectly unmoved, and was disposed to conclude that one great city is very much like another, and does not suddenly impress a stranger with an idea of its magnitude, since only a small portion can be seen at once. We were driven through the Strand, Temple Bar, which is one of the ancient gates of the

city, and Fleet-street. The coach stopped at the Bell Savage on Ludgate Hill. The coachman, by a short turn, drove us, with astonishing swiftness, through a narrow opening, where the least deviation would have overturned the coach, and we were set down in a large back yard, full of coaches, horses, servants, and baggage.

No. XI.-LONDON.

The Bell Savage Inn....St. Paul's...Take Lodgings...Manner of living.....Boarding-houses almost unknown.....Expense and convenience of lodgings....London intricate....Eating houses ....Letters.... The Monument of London.... Opening of the new dock....Ceremonies on the occasion.

May 20.-To have arrived thus happily in London, after almost two months of travelling, by sea and land, was certainly a subject of joy and gratitude. It was 5 o'clock P. M. when we stepped down from the coach, and took lodgings for the night at the Bell Savage. This was a public-house a century ago, and gave occasion for the wit of Addison to investigate the derivation of its name. He informs us that it alludes to a French story of a very beautiful woman found in a wilderness, whence the romance, built upon this incident, is entitled La Belle Sauvage. This was proba bly at first the sign of the house, but the allusion has been so long forgotten that even the orthography is changed, and we find it no longer La Belle Sauvage, but the Bell Savage.

After dinner we went into St. Paul's Church, which was within a few rods of our lodgings. It is a sub-. lime building, and when I looked up through its stupendous dome, I saw an exhibition of architectural grandeur, which I had never witnessed before.

I shall now, my dear brother, cease for some months to be a traveller, and shall become a settled resident in London. Of this city of cities, you will not expect me to attempt any thing like a regular and full account. As volumes would not suffice for the purpose, it would be arrogance in me to suppose that a residence of a few months can qualify me for the task, even if entirely at leisure for observation. And when the daily calls of business, with engagements of ceremony and civility, are taken into the account, it will become me still more to be modest in drawing general conclusions concerning so vast a city as London. But, it may perhaps be still in my power to impart some information which will be interesting to you, since one cannot well mistake concerning facts passing daily be fore him, and needing only the faithful use of his sen. ses. During my residence in London, I shall there fore endeavour to give such notices of the objects which occur in my daily walks, as shall exhibit to you the most striking outlines of the picture, although it is probable that I shall rarely be able to add all the colouring and shades necessary to fill it up completely.

May 21. Not being engaged in commercial business, I took lodgings near Cavendish Square, in a part of Westminster, which is at once airy, clean, and quiet. The recommendation of a friend in New York, who had resided in the same house, gave me entire confidence in the people, and a letter of introduction from

him, (for he had been a great favourite there) procured me all the kindness and sedulous attention which I could have wished.

The method in which men without families usually live in London is very different from that which prevails in our great towns. Here, boarding-houses are unknown, or, if known, are hardly reputable places of residence. Single men therefore reside in lodgings, that is, they have furnished apartments in private houses, commonly a bed chamber and a parlour; sometimes they have a third room for a dressing chamber; but this is an unnecessary appendage. The apartments will cost from half a guinea to three or four guineas a week, according as they are more or less splendid, or are situated in a fashionable or obscure part of the town, and their location is a matter of no small impor. tance to the reception of a stranger. The Londoners will not call on a man who resides in some dirty alley or dark court, for the impression is at once that he is not genteel. In general, lodgings sufficiently comfortable and respectable may be obtained from oue to two guineas a week. In them it is expected that the tenant will take his breakfast and tea, which is procured for him by the servants of the house, at his own expense, over and above the rent of the rooms. The articles are purchased for him, and he pays the neat cost without any additional bill for the labour, of preparing the food. He is expected to dine out, either at a cof. fee-house, or wherever business or engagements of civility may lead him. In some houses they will prepare an occasional dinner for you, when ill health or bad weather renders it inconvenient to go abroad, but this is regarded as an extra indulgence, which you cannot claim as a right. This method of living is much

more comfortable than ours, and it secures to one the command of his own time, with all the retirement of domestic life.

Mr. D and I feeling impatient to get something like a general idea of the appearance of London, set out and walked at random. We passed street after street, and turned corner after corner, till our little knowledge of the town, (his, gained from having once before been here, for a short time, and mine from an inspection of the map,) was exhausted, and we wandered on till our heads were completely turned, and we were lost in endless mazes of shops, houses, courts, and streets. When we inquired the way to Cavendish Square, the directions were even less intelligible than the town itself; no hackney coaches were to be found, and we at last concluded that, as even London must have an end, we would persist till we should find it, and then endeavour to correct our reckoning, and start fairly for a return. We rambled on, a tedious length of way, till we found ourselves at Spa Fields, a watering place, with a chalybeate spring and tea gardens, just on the border of London. The refreshments of the place were rendered welcome by extreme fatigue, and after being, again and again, bewildered, we at length reached our lodgings, with the wholesome lesson which experience had taught us, that a stranger should not trust himself in London without a guide, or ample directions. A method which we soon found it necessary to adopt was to plan every excursion with the aid of the map, and to make out on a pocket card, in their proper succession, a list of the streets through which we wished to pass.

May 22.-The number of eating houses in London is immense. You can hardly pass through a street without finding one, and in the earliest excursion which I