with the result
that the next day 74 were arrested: the day after 60, and so on, the
catch on one day being a hundred, all of whom were 'soundly paid,' i.e.
flogged and sent to their own homes. The statute ordering the whipping
of vagabonds was enforced even in this present century, women being
flogged as well as men. No statutes, however, can put down the curse of
vagrancy and idleness. It can only be suppressed by the will and
resolution of the people themselves. If for a single fortnight we should
all refuse to give a single penny to beggars: if in every street we
should all resolve upon having none but honest folk among us: then and
only then, would the rogue find this island of Great Britain impossible
to be longer inhabited by him and his tribe.

55. UNDER GEORGE THE SECOND.

PART I.

THE WEALTH OF LONDON.

If a new world was opened to the adventurous in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, this new world two hundred years later was only half explored
and was constantly yielding up new treasures. The lion's share of these
treasures came to Great Britain and was landed at the Port of London.
The wealth and luxury of the merchants in the eighteenth century
surpassed anything ever recorded or ever imagined. So great was their
prosperity that historians and essayists predicted the speedy downfall
of the City: the very greatness of their success frightened those who
looked on and remembered the past.

[Illustration: GROUP SHOWING COSTUMES AND SEDAN CHAIR, ABOUT 1720.

(_From an engraving by Kip._)]

Though the appearance of the City had changed, and its colour and
picturesqueness were gone, at no time was London more powerful or more
magnificent. There were no nobles living within the walls: only two or
three of the riverside palaces remained along the Strand: there were no
troops of retainers riding along the streets in the bright liveries of
their masters: the picturesque gables, the latticed windows, the
overhanging fronts--all these were gone: instead of the old churches
rich with ancient carvings, frescoes in crimson and blue, marble
monuments and painted glass, were the square halls--preaching halls--of
Wren with their round windows, rich only in carved woodwork: the houses
were square with sash windows: the shop fronts were glazed: the streets
were filled with grave and sober merchants in great wigs and white
ruffles. They lived in stately and commodious houses, many of which
still survive--see the Squ