h it
has been made. They say it is only fit to give to dogs. The salt beef
which they use is certainly excellent. I cannot say the same for their
beer, which was so bitter that I could not drink it. However, I could not
be expected to like beer after the excellent French wines with which the
wine merchant supplied me, certainly at a very heavy cost.

I had been a week in my new home without seeing Martinelli. He came on a
Monday morning, and I asked him to dine with me. He told me that he had
to go to the Museum, and my curiosity to see the famous collection which
is such an honour to England made me accompany him. It was there that I
made the acquaintance of Dr. Mati, of whom I shall speak in due course.

At dinner Martinelli made himself extremely pleasant. He had a profound
knowledge of the English manners and customs which it behoved me to know
if I wished to get on. I happened to speak of the impoliteness of which I
had been guilty in paying a gaming debt in gold instead of paper, and on
this text he preached me a sermon on the national prosperity,
demonstrating that the preference given to paper shews the confidence
which is felt in the Bank, which may or may not be misplaced, but which
is certainly a source of wealth. This confidence might be destroyed by a
too large issue of paper money, and if that ever took place by reason of
a protracted or unfortunate war, bankruptcy would be inevitable, and no
one could calculate the final results.

After a long discussion on politics, national manners, literature, in
which subjects Martinelli shone, we went to Drury Lane Theatre, where I
had a specimen of the rough insular manners. By some accident or other
the company could not give the piece that had been announced, and the
audience were in a tumult. Garrick, the celebrated actor who was buried
twenty years later in Westminster Abbey, came forward and tried in vain
to restore order. He was obliged to retire behind the curtain. Then the
king, the queen, and all the fashionables left the theatre, and in less
than an hour the theatre was gutted, till nothing but the bare walls were
left.

After this destruction, which went on without any authority interposing,
the mad populace rushed to the taverns to consume gin and beer. In a
fortnight the theatre was refitted and the piece announced again, and
when Garrick appeared before the curtain to implore the indulgence of the
house, a voice from the pit shouted, "On your knees.