Doings in London; or, day and night scenes of the frauds, frolics, manners, and depravities of the Metropolis / With thirty-three engravings, by Bonner, from designs by R. Cruikshank.

  • George Smeeton
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Doings in London; or, day and night scenes of the frauds, frolics, manners, and depravities of the Metropolis / With thirty-three engravings, by Bonner, from designs by R. Cruikshank. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Mentor. “ to alienate you from your intended project, but I must warn you of the doings in London, of the difficulties you will have to encounter. Be tenacious with whom you associate ; form nof hasty connections ; choose your friends among the wise, and your wife among the virtuous.” Mentor thus gave him instruction, and so excited his wishes, that Peregrine regretted the necessity of sleep, and longed till the morning should commence his pleasures. It was agreed that they should breakfast the next morning at the Castle and Falcon, Aldersgate Street, it being the inn where Peregrine intended to reside : to this appointment Peregrine was punctual; they conversed over the news of the day while at breakfast, and, when it was over, Peregrine proposed that they should instantly commence their ramble. “ But,” said Mentor, “ before we begin our walks through London—this vast em¬ porium of happiness and misery, splendour and wretchedness, the mart of all the world, the residence of the voluptuous and the frugal, the idle and the busy, the merchant and the man of learn¬ ing,—it may be well to give you a short sketch of some of its in¬ teresting particulars. Notwithstanding politicians and legislators have at various times expressed considerable alarm at the growth of the metropolis, it has still continued advancing, amidst all im¬ pediments and interruptions, to a most gigantic size. Conjecture even dares not lix its limits, for every succeeding year we see some waste ground in the suburbs reclaimed and covered with dwellings; some little village or hamlet in the suburbs united by a continuous street to the metropolis ; until what once, and that at no remote period, was London and its environs, is now one great compact city, likely to verify the prediction of James the First, that “ England will shortly be London, and London England.” By the census of 1821, London, including the borough of South¬ wark, contained the vast number of 161,905 houses, and 3437 other houses were then building; and, when we consider that every month brings a large addition, it probably could not be too much to estimate the metropolis as at present containing 170,000 houses ; nor are its limits likely to stop here, but to be extended considerably in succeeding ages. “ Political economists differed widely in their estimates of the number of inhabitants the metropolis contained, and of the pro¬ gressive ratio of increase. In L377, London is said to have contained about 35,000 inhabitants. In 1636-7, they amounted to 700,000, within the city walls, according to a census ordered by the Lord Mayor, Sir Edward Bromfield ; but this calculation is thought erroneous. In 1746, an historian calculated the population at 992,000 ; but, eight years after, Dr. Brackenbridge fixed it at only 751,812 persons; and there is strong reason to believe that this estimate is correct. But, to come io more certain data, we find that, according to the census of 1801, London was inhabited by 864,845 persons. In 1811, it had increased to 1,099,104; and, in 1821, to 1,225,964 persons. Yet, while the
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