(_For the Mirror._)
London, in early times (King Ethelred's reign) consisted only of
scattered buildings from Ludgate to Westminster, and none where the
heart of the city now is; it was afterwards extended more westward and
continued increasing---eastward being neglected until a more later
period. Who can view its present well constructed houses, its numerous
elegant squares and terraces, and its general superior appearance,
without almost doubting that the inhabitants of Britain once dwelt in
the most miserable habitations, regardless in every respect of comfort
and cleanliness. Indeed, at an early period we seem to have been in a
very wretched condition. Without carrying ourselves too far back, we
will look at the state of the English about the year 1520, (Henry the
Eighth's reign.) The houses were built entirely regardless of all that
health and comfort could suggest. The situation of the doors and windows
was never thought of, and the former only opened. The floors were made
either of clay, or sand, covered with rushes, which were very seldom
removed.[1] Some few houses were built of stone, but generally they were
composed of wood, coated over with _mud_, or cement, with straw or
reed roofs. Things seem to have been in no very enviable condition
during this reign. The laws were little obeyed; thefts and robbery were
frequent, for "22,000 criminals are said to have been executed by the
rigid justice of Henry VIII."
It is not surprising that crime should have been great in this reign,
for Henry himself was not only guilty of many crimes, but patronised
vice in the regular system of bull and bear-baiting, particularly on
_Sundays_, about four in the afternoon, which exhibitions were
attended by great crowds of persons of all classes. The accommodations
of a royal establishment at this period are thus described:--"The
apartments at Hampton Court had been furnished on a particular occasion,
each with a candlestick, a basin, goblet and ewer of silver; yet the
furniture of Henry's chamber, independent of the bed and cupboard,
consisted only of a joint-stool, a pair of andirons, and a small mirror.
The halls and chambers of the wealthy were replenished with a cupboard,
long tables, or rather loose boards placed upon tressels, forms, a
chair, and a few joint-stools. Carpets were only employed to garnish
cupboards." The food in this reign appears to be in character with
everything else. From a household book of the Earl of Northumberland,
it appears that his family, during the winter, fed mostly on salt meat
and salt fish, with "an appointment of 160 gallons of mustard." On flesh
days through the year, _breakfast_ for my lord and _lady_ was
a loaf of bread, two manchets, a quart of beer, a quart of wine, half a
chine of mutton, or a chine of beef, boiled. The earl had only two cooks
to dress victuals for more than two hundred people. Hens, chickens, and
partridges, were reckoned delicacies, and were forbidden except at my
lord's table.
This excessive love for eating was not, however, confined to Henry's
time, for about two centuries previous to this, (Edward III.) feasting
was endeavoured to be restrained by a law, though Edward himself did not
follow his own law, for when his "son, Lionel, of Clarence, married
Violentes, of Milant there were thirty courses, and the fragments fed
1,500 persons."
The formation of London was but tardy and very irregular until the reign
of Henry VIII. at which time, some extensive buildings and improvements
were made. On the other hand, building seems at length to have gone on
too rapidly, and caused such alarm, that about a century after Henry's
reign, a proclamation was issued by James I. after mature deliberation,
forbidding all new buildings within ten miles of London; and commanding
if any were built after this they should be pulled down, though no
notice was taken of them for seven years.
It is somewhat singular, that though the population in these early
days were but a handful in comparison to the present number, the
_redundancy_ of population was as bitterly complained of as it ever
has been in modern days. About thirty years after Henry's reign
(Elizabeth) we learn from one Harrison, who wrote in 1577, that "a great
number complain of the increase of povertie, laying the cause upon God,
as though he were in fault for sending such increase of people, or want
of wars that should consume them, affirming that the land was never
so full. Some affirming that youth by marrying too soon do nothing to
profit the countrie; but fill it full of beggars, to the hurte and utter
undooing, they say, of the common wealth. The better minded doo forsake
the realme for altogether, complaining of _no room to be left for them
at home_." If there was no room in Elizabeth's time, what must be our
present situation? Indeed the present crowded state of the metropolis,
and the general closeness of the buildings, has frequently been a
subject for regret, as tending to render it unhealthy and impure; but
on referring to its state, when in comparison it was but a village, the
old writers state that in the city, and all round it were a great number
of pits and ditches, and sloughs, which were made the receptacle of all
kind of filth, dead and putrid horses, and cattle, &c. In the time of
Henry VIII. many parts are described as "exceedingly foul and full of
pits and sloughs, and very noisome," and some years after (1625) in a
tract, the author says, "Let not carkasses of horses, dogs, cats, &c.
lye rotting and poisoning the aire, as they have done in _More_ and
_Finsbury_ Fields, and elsewhere round about the cittie. Let the
ditches towards Islington, Olde-street, and towards Shoreditch and
Whitechapel, be well cleansed." In another tract published in 1665, it
states, that "there are all sorts of unsavoury stenches, proceeding
either from carrion, ditches, rotten dung-hills, vaults, sinks, nasty
kennels, and streets, (strewed with all manner of filth) seldom
cleansed." From these statements it is evident that notwithstanding all
the present inconveniences that the inhabitants of London live in more
healthy situations now that they are surrounded by houses, than when
they were exposed to extensive open fields.