much under the influence and control of the courts, that they dare not trifle but always adhere strictly to the point.

A BALLOON.

On my way home from Westminster Hall, I stopped at the Pantheon, to view a magnificent balloon which is now getting ready there. Lunardi, a well known

ronaut, is to ascend in it, with a party of a dozen ladies and gentlemen. They pay a high premium for the privilege of breathing among the clouds, and the chance of being killed philosophically. This balloon is ornamented, in a very expensive style, and will probably cost enough to buy the finest equipage in Europe; minds of a less ambitious cast would perhaps prefer the wheels and horses on the ground, to varnished silk, and inflammable gas, among the whirlwinds of heaven. This party are even more ambitious than æronauts usu ally are; for they are not contented with building castles in the air, they must even raise a Grecian temple there, as if by magic; for, it is a part of the scheme of this balloon that, after it has ascended to a certain height, a festoon of curtains which has been suspended all around it, will suddenly unfold and hang in such a manner as to hide the balloon completely, and to represent a Grecian temple with all its porticoes and columns.

The car of this balloon is a circular platform furnished with a dozen elegant chairs, secured in their places by an iron ring, which passes through their backs, and is itself supported by iron posts. In the middle is a table in which is a door, that opens into convenient places for refreshments, philosophical in

struments and other things necessary for the voyage. The car will be suspended as usual by a net-work of cords passing over the balloon, and fastened to the platform. A day in September is fixed on for the ascent, and, if I am at that time in London, you may expect to hear more of this great bubble, should it actually'

rise.

TOWER HILL.

June 23.-I took a walk this morning to TowerHill, which is situated near the Tower itself. It is not much of an eminence, but it has been rendered very conspicuous in English history, as the place where much noble blood has been spilt, under the hand of the executioner. The Earl of Essex, the favourite of Queen Elizabeth, Lord Russell, Lord Lovet, Ann Bolein, and the great Sir William Wallace, the assertor of the liberties of his country against the tyranny of Edward the first, will occur to you among the multitude of other distinguished persons, whose blood has, at different periods, enriched this memorable spot. It is now a beautiful square, covered with verdure and enclosed by an iron railing. It has ceased to be a place of execution, and, if my recollection does not deceive me, Lord Lovet and his associates were the last victims that suffered there.

RAG FAIR.

June 24.-As. I was going to the London Dock, this evening, with some companions, we passed through a great crowd of dirty ragged people, to the number of some hundreds. They appeared to be very busy in displaying and examining old clothes which they were

pulling out from bags in which they were contained. This, I was informed, is rag fair. It is held here every evening for the sale of old clothes which are collected all over London, principally by Jews, who go about with bags on their shoulders, crying, with a peculiarly harsh guttural sound, clothes, clothes, old clothes. You will meet them in every street and alley in London, and at evening they repair to Wapping, where a grand display is made of every species of apparel in every stage of decay. Sometimes they are in tatters, and at other times merely soiled. Here people of the lower ranks may make a selection which is to them really very useful, and a poor coxcomb may deck himself in the cast-off finery of the London cock

This is only one instance of a great system of similar transactions. There are shops in every part of London where a man may furnish himself with the most impor. tant articles of dress for a few shillings; for instance, there are hundreds of boot and shoe stores, where these articles are sold of such rude workmanship and of such inferior materials that there are few who cannot buy, at least among those articles which are second hand. There is probably no place in the world where people of all conditions may consult their circumstances so effectually as in London.

ANGLO ASIATICS AND AFRICANS.

From the rag fair we went on board an American ship lying in the London docks. There we saw several children which have been sent, by the way of Ame rica, from India to England, to receive an education, They are the descendants of European fathers and of

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Bengalee mothers, and are of course the medium between the two, in colour, features and form. I mention this circumstance because the fact has become ex

tremely common. You will occasionally meet in the streets of London genteel young ladies, born in England, walking with their half-brothers, or more commonly with their nephews, born in India, who possess, in a very strong degree, the black hair, small features, delicate form, and brown complexion of the native Hindus. These young men are received into society and take the rank of their fathers. I confess the fact struck me rather unpleasantly. It would seem that the prejudice against colour is less strong in England than in America; for, the few negroes found in this country, are in a condition much superior to that of their countrymen any where else. A black footman is considered as a great acquisition, and consequently, negro servants are sought for and caressed. An ill dressed or starving negro is never seen in England, and in some instances even alliances are formed between them and white girls of the lower orders of society. A few days since I met in Oxford-street a well dressed white girl who was of a ruddy complexion, and even handsome, walking arm in arm, and conversing very sociably, with a negro man, who was as well dressed as she, and so black that his skin had a kind of ebony lustre. there are no slaves in England, perhaps the English have not learned to regard negroes as a degraded class of men, as we do in the United States, where we have never seen them in any other condition.

As

No. XXII-LONDON.

Vauxhall gardens....Situation and extent....Splendidly illuminated....Description.... Amusements of the place...Music.....A mechanical panorama...Fire-works....Dancing of courtezans.

VAUXHALL GARDENS.

In the evening, I went with a party of Americans to Vauxhall gardens. They are situated about a mile and a half from London, on the south of Lambeth, on the Surry side of the river. The gardens cover a number of acres, the whole surface is perfectly smooth, free from grass, and rolled hard. Avenues of lofty trees are planted every where, and the confines are filled with shrubs. I came to the gardens with the impression that I was about to see something excelling all other splendid objects which I had hitherto beheld. Nor was I disappointed. For, as we entered, a scene presented itself splendid beyond description, and almost beyond conception, exceeding all that poets have told of fairy lands and Elysian fields.

From the trees, even to their very tops and extremities, from the long arched passages, open at the sides and crossing each other in geometrical figures, from the alcoves and recesses which surround the whole, and from the orchestra and pavilions, such a flood of brightNess was poured out from ten thousand lamps, whose flames were tinged with every hue of light, and which were disposed in figures, exhibiting at once all that is beautiful in regularity, and all that is fascinating in the arrangements of taste and fancy-that one might almost