int is of very old standing, and that long before
the days of his great-great-grandfather, in fact more than seven
generations ago, this poisoning of the atmosphere with the impurities
given off from 'sea-coal' and other combustibles had already come to be
looked on by some as a public nuisance. It will, therefore, interest
Londoners in general, and will delight the hearts of Sir William
Richmond R.A. and the County Council in particular, to know that their
great precursor in this matter of reform nearly 250 years ago considered
the question even then one of urgency, admitting of no delay. How
graphic, and how refreshing, is the pithy point thus neatly scored--

'I propose therefore, that by an _Act_ of this present
_Parliament_, this infernal _Nuisance_ be removed.'

There is no beating about the bush here, and no mincing of phrases. The
matter is at once probed with the needle.

Evelyn was not merely a rather notable person in the London society of
that period. As a man of science he was one of the most prominent
pillars of the then recently founded Royal Society. As an official he
was His Majesty's Commissioner for improving the streets and buildings
of London, in addition to various other particular duties. But
finally,--and, at the same time, first of all, if it be permissible to
emphasise the fact in so paradoxical a manner--he was a courtier; and
that at a time when expressions of loyalty to His Gracious Majesty,
King Charles II., were somewhat too highly coloured, too servile and
sycophantic, to suit our modern taste.

This short work _Fumifugium_, really only a pamphlet, was therefore
dedicated to the King in language of the period extravagant in the
highest degree, though eminently typical of the Royalists during the
early days of the Restoration. The treatise was thus occasioned:-- 'It
was one day, as I was Walking in Your Majesty's Palace at White-Hall
(where I have sometimes the honour to refresh myself with the Sight of
Your Illustrious Presence, which is the Joy of Your Peoples hearts) that
a presumptuous Smoak issuing from one or two tunnels near
_Northumberland House_, and not far from _Scotland-yard_ did so invade
the Court; that all the Rooms, Galleries, and Places about it were
fill'd and infested with it; and that to such a degree, as Men could
hardly discern one another from the Clowd, and none could support,
without manifest Inconveniency. It was not this which did first suggest
to m