tle trouble and a small expense was in the way. gentleman proposed to introduce me to the king, as there was a levee to be held next day-but, says he, you will have to get a court dress; and, says I, what is a court dress? says he, you will have to get silk stockings, breeches, a cocked hat and a sword. Says I, were I to put all these articles on, and look in the glass, I should not know myself. He smiled; but, says I, what will this sword, hat, &c., &c., cost? Why, says he, you may get them all for twenty guineas. Twenty guineas, says I; I would not give twenty guineas to see all the kings in Christendom. Ah, says he, you are a true Scot. On the whole, I thought the speakers in the House of Commons were very common-place speakers, not to be compared (in my. opinion) with Maxwell, Price, Anthon, three eminent lawyers, and many others I have heard at the Hall. Never having seen a play acted, and wishing to see how they held the mirror up to nature, I took my seat in a front box. The house was splendid, the company splendid, the dresses of the actors splendid, and as far as I could judge, the acting was splendid. This was at Covent Garden Theatre-the play Richard the Third. It was acted to the life, as a connoisseur told me. I liked the play, and heard nothing immoral about it. But in the farce or afterpiece, when a company of young women came out to dance, I was perfectly satisfied that the theatre is no school for morality. I expressed my astonishment to a friend beside me; he said that was modesty itself, compared to what he had seen on some occasions. CHAPTER VI. The Bank of England-General Post-Office-Custom House-Streets of London-Female Postillions, &c. The Bank of England Is the most important institution of the kind that exists in the world. And the history of banking furnishes no example that can at all compare with it for the range and multiplicity of its transactions, and for the vast influence which it possesses among the moneyed institutions of every country. This bank was chartered in 1694, one hundred and forty years ago. (Query. When will America boast of a bank so ancient?) The business hours are from 9 till 5; and any person may visit most of the apartments. The principal entrance is in Threadneedle-street, not far from the American Coffee-House. This immense pile of buildings is more extensive in its range of offices than any other public institution in London. I saw one room wherein were upwards of 100 clerks, all engaged in one distinct department of the business; there is one room, where the exclusive business of the clerks is to detect forgeries. The rotunda is a spacious circular room, with a lofty dome. Here a large and heterogenous mass of persons, of all nations and classes, assemble to buy and sell stock. The building is 440 feet on the west side, 410 on the north side, 365 on the south, and 245 on the east side; the whole is constructed without timber. I saw one clerk receiving, and another paying out sovereigns by the pound weight. 、 The General Post-Office. Its system and arrangements is another of those tremendous concerns, with which this world of a city abounds. It is situated in St. Martin's-le-Grand. The building is 400 feet in length, and eighty in depth. The secretary resides in the building, and the upper stories contain sleeping-rooms for the foreign clerks, who are liable to be called to duty on the arrival of the mails. The basement story is rendered fire-proof by brick vaultings. They have an ingenious machine for conveying coals to the upper stories, and a simple means for forcing water to any part of the edifice in case of fire. The whole building is lighted by gas, of which there are nearly 1,000 burners. In this city you may walk in a straight line a distance of seven miles without getting off the pavements. Therefore, to expedite the delivery of the letters in the morning, they have light carriages called accelerators. In them are placed the postman and his letters; each taking a division of the metropolis, they drop the letter carriers in their own particular walk. The average number of letters that pass through the post-office in one week exceeds half a million. The inland-office employs about 200 superintendents, clerks, and sorters : besides about 200 persons in delivering the letters; and the foreign department employs about 20 clerks and sorters, besides 34 persons in delivering. The two-penny post employs about 50 sorters and clerksbesides there is one branch office in Lombard-street, one in Charing Cross, and one in Vere-street; there are besides upwards of 150 receiving houses in different parts of the city. The Custom-. Is another mammoth concern. Its length 480, and its breadth 100 feet. It affords accommodation to about 650 clerks and officers, besides 1000 tide waiters and servants. The long-room for entries, &c., is 180 feet long, and 60 in width. They have a comfortable arrangement in this room;-just as the clock struck one, I observed a number of small boys come in, with four raw oysters and a piece of bread on a plate, and set it down on the desks by each clerk. I thought this was preferable to running out to an eating house. This building stands on the banks of the Thames in the lower end of the city, much in the same proportion to London, as if it stood on the Coffee-House Slip in NewYork. The banks, post-office, exchange, &c., &c., are all down town. I dined with an old gentleman who had been an officer in the custom-house for 50 years he is now retired on full pay. He says that no competent officer is ever discharged except for bad behavior, and whenever they have served 50 years in any office, they are entitled to full pay for life. I think this is a politic and just arrangement. It stimulates to good behavior; and when a man serves the public faithfully for 50 years, he certainly is justly entitled to a comfortable support during the few re maining years of his life. But in America we manage things otherwise—no matter, though a man may have lost an eye, an arm, or a leg, when fighting for his country's rights. No matter, though his goods have been pillaged, his dwelling burned, and his wife and children drove to look for shelter through the freezing snow of a winter's night. No matter, though he has served the public with fidelity and honesty ever since his appointment in the days of Washington. No matter, though his salary is barely sufficient to keep soul and body together, and of course he is unable to lay up for old age. All this matters not: he is removed to make room for some lazy, hungry, political favourite, who was very useful to the party at the last election, by cursing and swearing, telling lies and getting drunk at the poles; (and yet these men are supported by the majority of those who are styled friends of morality.) The consequence is, that no man of honour or respectability will give up the profits of his own profession for the sake of serving the public; and men without principle, knowing the uncertain tenor by which they hold their office, will make the most of it, (as many of them have done,) and so become defaulters. Another great evil is the instability of every thing.In less than 35 years I have seen two United States' Banks cut up, mangled and murdered, to answer the purposes of a few unprincipled, pennyless, political intriguers. But to return to the streets of London. Nothing can exceed the good-natured humility of many ladies and gentlemen of the British metropolis; for instead of employing their coachmen and grooms to drive them, they frequently undertake the office of their servants, and mount the coach box, or the dicky, while the servants |