are now frequently partially removed by the
exertion of the Corporation of London; but a complete reformation is
impossible. It is to the improved dwellings composed of brick, the
wainscot or papered walls, the high ceilings, the boarded floors, and
large windows, and cleanliness, that we are indebted for the general
preservation of health since 1666. From that auspicious year the very
existence of the natives of London improved; their bodies moved in a
large space of pure air; and, finding every thing clean and new around
them, they determined to keep them so. Previously-unknown luxuries and
improvements in furniture were suggested; and a man of moderate fortune
saw his house vie with, nay, superior to, the old palaces of his
governors. When he paced his streets, he felt the genial western breeze
pass him, rich with the perfumes of the country, instead of the stench
described by Erasmus; and looking upward, he beheld the beautiful blue
of the air, variegated with fleecy clouds, in place of projecting black
beams and plaster, obscured by vapour and smoke.

The streets of London must have been dangerously dark during the winter
nights before it was burnt; lanterns with candles were very sparingly
scattered, nor was light much better distributed even in the new streets
previously to the 18th century. Globular lamps were introduced by
Michael Cole, who obtained a patent in July, 1708.

We conclude the illustrations of this day with a singular opinion of the
author just quoted. Speaking of the burning of London, he says, "This
subject may be allowed to be familiar to me, and I have perhaps had more
than common means of judging; and I now declare it to be my full and
decided opinion, that London _was burnt by government, to annihilate the
plague_, which was grafted in every crevice of the hateful old houses
composing it."

[5] The progress of the fire might have been stopped, but for the
foolish conduct of the Lord Mayor, who refused to give orders
for pulling down some houses, _without the consent of the
owners_. Buckets and engines were of no use, from the confined
state of the streets.

[6] "Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London in the
Eighteenth Century," vol. ii. p. 378.

* * * * *

THE SKETCH BOOK

NO. XLV.

* * * * *

BEHIND THE SCENES; OR, A BREAKFAST IN NEWGATE.

(_Concluded fro