London improvements -- The Country -- Gleaning -- Dairying and
out-door Washing -- The Gipsy.
In writing a book like this, it is manifestly impossible to give
an account of all the public works and improvements all over the
country--perforce, they must needs be confined to the national
heart--the Metropolis. And we, who have reaped the benefit of the
large-hearted, and open-handed policy which was then just being
inaugurated, may just as well be reminded of what our grandfathers
did for us.
In January, 1811, the New Kent Road was suggested, and afterwards
carried out, which was the means of purifying a not particularly
savoury neighbourhood, called St. George's Fields. In the same year,
was a proposition to convert certain dairy farm lands at Mary le
bone, into a park for public recreation. We now reap the benefit of
it in Regent's Park, or, as it was first named, Mary le bone Park.
The first stone of the Strand Bridge, "Waterloo Bridge," as it was
afterwards called, was laid in this year. Perhaps the first cast-iron
bridge ever built was, in this year, an aqueduct over the Ouse, at
Wolverton.
In 1812 the Regent's Canal was commenced, and the first stone of
Plymouth Breakwater was laid. Vauxhall Bridge was also begun.
Millbank Prison was also started this year, and in 1813 Whitecross
Street Prison was commenced. Both these have ended their existence.
To show how far in advance of their times they were, there was
a proposition in 1814 to remove Smithfield Market to Islington,
which has come to pass. In 1815, when Napoleon was supposed to be
chained at Elba, home affairs again attracted attention, and we find
Burlington Arcade in contemplation, Bethlehem Hospital, as we now
know it, opened, and the first stones of Southwark Bridge and the
London Institution were laid. So, also, the Post Office in Aldersgate
Street was inaugurated.
In 1816 Regent Street was being built, and "_Mr. Nash's Positive
Order_" was duly discussed, and, I am afraid, a wee bit ridiculed.
"Nash draws designs; but, honest Master Nash,
Tho' you may draw--who answers with the cash?"
Perhaps it might have been that he was architect to the Prince of
Wales, and was thought very much of by the Regent.
"Master Nash, Master Nash,
You merit the lash,
For debauching the taste of our Heir to the Throne,
Then cross not the Seas,
To rob the Chinese,
But learn to grow wise from Vitruvius and Soane."
We, who are accustomed to our modern London, will read, almost with
astonishment, that in October, 1816, "It is said that Oxford Road is
to be continued as far as Bayswater Brook, which, when completed,
will make the longest street in Europe. When the New Post Office is
finished, the Western Mails are to go out direct, along Holborn,
instead of through the narrow streets, Charing Cross, Piccadilly,
&c.; and it is said that a short cut is to be made into the other
western road, angular from Shepherd's Bush to Hammersmith, which,
certainly, would save a mile of ground." This "Bayswater brook" was
that which now feeds the Serpentine, running from Hampstead, by
Kilburn, and entering Hyde Park at its Northern part.
On the 18th of June, 1817, the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo,
the new Bridge over the Thames, previously called the Strand Bridge,
was opened as Waterloo Bridge, which name it now bears. In this year
there is a little bit of gossip anent Marlborough House which may be
interesting to some readers, especially as its use was foreshadowed:
"The tenure of the magnificent house near St. James's Palace, which
was granted to the first Duke of Marlborough, about a hundred years
ago, expired, it is said, with the death of the last Duke; and now
reverts to the Crown. This was the house in which Queen Anne resided
before she ascended the throne, and it has been observed, that it
would scarcely be possible to find a town mansion more suitable to
the Heiress of the British Throne."
In 1818, Regent Street was still being built, and we also
learn--"Dec. 7. The new street from Carlton House to the Regent's
Park is making rapid strides to its completion, almost the whole of
the ground on the intended line of it, being now let. The part of it
which forms a square, in front of Carlton House, is called 'Waterloo
Place'; from thence to Piccadilly, it is called Waterloo Street, and,
from Piccadilly, the street, which will form a grand approach to the
Regent's Park, is to be called the Regent's Parade."
On the 20th of March, 1819, Burlington Arcade was opened, and on
the 24th of March, Southwark Bridge followed suit. On the 10th of
August the first stone of Telford's bridge across the Menai Straits
was laid: and in November the arrangements for rebuilding Buckingham
Palace were completed, Carlton House being too small for "George the
Magnificent."
[Illustration: Sowing Broadcast.]
[Illustration: Using the Flail.]
In the Country, things were somewhat primitive, to our thinking, see,
for instance, this heavy cumbrous plough drawn by four long legged
hairy-hocked horses, with their fringed leather yokes, attached to
the hames (which, by the way were very useful, as they let down,
backward, in wet weather, and protected the horse's withers).
There were no drilling machines, so wheat, and other crops had to be
sown broadcast, an operation which required a peculiar, and deft turn
of the hand, and, as thrashing machines were only just being dreamed
of (a few having been made), we see the old flail at work.
[Illustration: The Plough.]
The agricultural labourer did not receive so much nominal pay as now,
but he had much more in kind, and was strong and healthy, although
dressed in a more homely fashion than at present. In those days a
man was not ashamed of showing himself to be what he was, a farm
labourer, and he wore that most seemly of garments, now dying out
fast--a smock frock--good home-made stockings, and strong _ancle
jacks_.
In those days, it was like the times of Boaz and Ruth, and women went
gleaning in the fields: a sight we seldom see now, in these days of
machinery, when the plough follows swiftly after the reaping machine.
The practice of gleaning was a kindly privilege granted by the farmer
to his labourers' wives and children, and to the poor women of the
parish; one which he had no need to give, but had been so practised
from early ages, that it was looked upon as a right, and consequently
abused: see the following: "Oct. 18, 1813. At the Nottingham County
Sessions, William Pearson and John Sprey were convicted of felony,
in stealing wheat in the ear, from shocks standing in the field,
and sentenced to fourteen days' imprisonment, in the county gaol.
The Chairman told them the Court would not have been so lenient,
but for their youth, and having been already _five weeks_[33] in
prison. He remarked, 'that this species of depredation was become so
prevalent, as to be loudly, and justly, complained of. He wished it,
therefore, to be understood, that no person has a right to enter the
field of another, for the purposes of gleaning, without the owner's
permission.'"
[Footnote 33: Italics are mine.--J. A.]
Old phases of English country life are dying out very fast, and it is
as well that some one should record them, and that needs both pen and
pencil. Take, for instance, the pictures of dairying. In these days
of cheese factories and thermometers _versus_ dairy maid's thumbs,
these rough out-door dairy arrangements, although they do exist, are
not particularly scientific, and do not yield the most paying
results.
[Illustration: The Farm Labourer.]
[Illustration: Gleaners.]
[Illustration: Dairy Folk.]
[Illustration: Washing Clothes.]
[Illustration: Mounted Butcher Boy.]
Even now may be seen in some parts of Scotland, and, possibly, of
Wales, the "Clapping of claes in the burn"--a process of destruction
to the linen which may be, perhaps, on a par with the chemicals of a
London laundress.
Take another type, fast dying out, absolutely gone in London, the
mounted butcher boy, who had but one stirrup, and who used all ways
to ride at racing pace: here we have him perfect; his peculiar
saddle, and the way his tray was strapped on.
[Illustration: The Gipsies.]
Then there is a race of people rapidly dying out--the gipsies; it is
impossible they can exist much longer, in their old nomadic life, and
the Lees, Coopers, &c., will be quietly absorbed into the general
population. County police and school boards are bound to improve them
out of the land.
But at the time of which I write Addison's description[34] of them
would answer very well. "If a stray piece of linen hangs upon a
hedge," says Sir Roger, "they are sure to have it; if a hog loses
his way in the fields, it is ten to one but he becomes their prey;
our geese cannot live in peace for them; if a man prosecutes them
with severity, his hen roost is sure to pay for it. They generally
straggle into these parts about this time of the year; and set the
heads of our servant maids so agog for husbands, that we do not
expect to have any business done as it should be whilst they are in
the Country. I have an honest dairy maid who crosses their hands with
a piece of silver every summer, and never fails being promised the
handsomest young fellow in the parish for her pains. Your friend the
butler has been fool enough to be seduced by them; and, though he
is sure to lose a knife, a fork, or a spoon every time his fortune
is told him, generally shuts himself up in the pantry with an old
gipsy for above half an hour once in a twelvemonth. Sweethearts are
the things they live upon, which they bestow very plentifully upon
all those that apply themselves to them. You see now and then some
handsome young jades among them; the sluts have very often white
teeth and black eyes."
[Footnote 34: _Spectator_, No. 130.]
There are one or two stories told of gipsies about the time of the
Regency, which will show what manner of men they then were. "May
17, 1815. The _Hereford Journal_ of last week states, that early
in March, a gang of gipsies pitched their tent on a waste piece of
ground in the parish of Stretton Sugwas in Herefordshire, and an old
woman, one of the party, persuaded a man of the name of Gritton,
that an immense quantity of gold coin lay concealed on the premises
he occupied, and that it was necessary that a large sum of money
should be made into a parcel, and, after being endowed with a charm,
it was to be sewed into the side-pocket of his coat, and the more
money the parcel contained, the more considerable would be the
treasure he should find. A sum of £70 in gold, bills, and silver,
was, accordingly, made up in a parcel, and, after some preparations,
sewed by the Sybil into the pocket of Gritton's coat, where it was to
remain nine days; at the end of which time she promised to return,
and a coffer of guineas was to arise from the ground. When the day
arrived, she, of course, did not make her appearance, and, on his
opening the parcel she had sewn up, he discovered that the witch had
managed to turn gold, silver, and bills into halfpence, stones, and
waste paper; leaving them in exchange for his cash, and as a reward
for his folly."
"July 18, 1816. _The Gipsies._--Of late years some attempts have been
made to reduce the numbers, or at any rate to civilize the habits,
of that vagabond and useless race, the gipsies. In pursuance of such
purpose, a society of gentlemen have been making all the preliminary
inquiries requisite to a proper understanding of the subject. A
series of questions have been proposed to competent persons in the
different counties in England and Scotland. Reports in answer to
these questions have been received, and their contents are thus
briefly stated.
"1. All Gipsies supposed the first of them came from Egypt.
"2. They cannot form any idea of the number in England.
"3. The Gipsies of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, parts of
Buckinghamshire, Cambridge, and Huntingdonshire, are continually
making revolutions within the range of those counties.
"4. They are either ignorant of the number of Gipsies in the counties
through which they travel, or unwilling, to disclose their knowledge.
"5. The most common names are Smith, Cowper, Draper, Bosswell,
Lovell, Loversedge, Allen, Mansfield, Glover, Williams, Carew,
Martin, Stanley, Buckley, Plunkett, and Corrie.
"6 and 7. The gangs in different towns have not any regular
connection or organization; but those who take up their winter
quarters in the same city or town, appear to have some knowledge of
the different routes each horde will pursue; probably with a design
to prevent interference.
"8. In the county of Herts it is computed there may be sixty
families, having many Children. Whether they are quite so numerous
in Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, and Northamptonshire, the answers
are not sufficiently definite to determine. In Cambridgeshire,
Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, and Dorsetshire, great numbers
are calculated upon. In various counties, the attention has not been
competent to the procuring data for any estimate of families or
individuals.
"9. More than half their number follow no business; others are
dealers in horses and asses; farriers, smiths, tinkers, braziers,
grinders of cutlery, basket-makers, chair-bottomers, and musicians.
"10. Children are brought up in the habits of their parents,
particularly to music and dancing, and are of dissolute conduct.
"11. The Women mostly carry baskets with trinkets and small wares;
and tell fortunes.
"12. Too ignorant to have acquired accounts of genealogy, and,
perhaps, indisposed to it by the irregularity of their habits.
"13. In most counties there are particular situations to which they
are partial. In Berkshire is a marsh, near Newbury, much frequented
by them; and Dr. Clarke states, that in Cambridgeshire, their
principal rendezvous is near the western villages.
"14. It cannot be ascertained, whether, from their first coming into
the nation, attachment to particular places has prevailed.
"15, 16, and 17. When among strangers they elude inquiries respecting
their peculiar language, calling it gibberish. Don't know of any
person that can write it, or of any written specimen of it.
"18. Their habits and customs in all places are peculiar.
"19. Those who profess any religion represent it to be that of the
Country in which they reside; but their description of it seldom goes
beyond repeating the Lord's prayer; and, only few of them are capable
of that. Instances of their attending any place for worship are very
rare.
"20. They marry, for the most part, by pledging to each other,
without any ceremony. A few exceptions have occurred, when money was
plentiful.
"21. They do not teach their Children religion.
"22 and 23. Not _one_ in a _thousand_ can read.
"24 and 25. Some go into lodgings in London, Cambridge, &c., during
the winter; but it is calculated three-fourths of them live out of
doors in winter as in summer."
[Illustration: Walking Costume. 1812.]
[Illustration: Ladies' Head-Dress.]
[Illustration: Nos. 1 and 2, 1811; No. 3, 1812; Nos. 4 and 5, 1813.]
[Illustration: Nos. 1 and 2, 1814; Nos. 3 and 4, 1815.]