LETTER LIII.
SIR,London, April 12, 1733.
’Tis not possible for me to be insensible how greatly I am obliged to you for that Uneasiness which you seem to be under, till you can hear of my Arrival in some safe Harbour of this Kingdom, tho’ ’tis no more than what I expected from such a Friend as you. I should have prevented your Anxiety upon this Score, if I had not thought it proper to take a little View of this Country, before I wrote one Word to you about it; and now I flatter myself that I am able to satisfy your Curiosity.
I had one of the most favourable Passages that could be; for in less than eighteen Hours, I came from Helvoetsluys to Harwich, which is the Harbour for the Packet-Boats that pass betwixt this Kingdom and Holland.
Harwich not seeming to me to be worth a Traveller’s Notice, I only stopped to hire Horses, and came with all Speed to London. That City, which for its Extent, the Number of its Inhabitants, and their Wealth, may pass, not only for the Capital of a powerful Kingdom, but even for the Capital of Europe: That City, where True Liberty bears Rule; where the Arts and Sciences are cultivated and protected; where the Inhabitants
enjoy the Goods of Fortune without vain Ostentation; where Merit is considered, and Birth highly valued, when ’tis accompanied with Virtue: That City, in fine, where are still to be found those Roman Souls, which other Nations admire, but know not how to imitate.
Yet London, with all the Attributes I have now given it, with its magnificent Structures, both sacred and profane, cannot be rank’d among the finest Cities; for many of its Streets being dirty and ill-paved, its Houses of Brick, not very high, nor adorn’d with Architecture, but blacken’d with the unmerciful Smoke of Coal-fires, gives it a dark Hue, which renders it far less agreeable than it would be otherwise.
The Riches of London, if not of all England, are owing to the Thames, and the Citizens set more Value by this River, than by any other Advantage that they enjoy: Of this a certain old Alderman had the Courage to give King Charles II. a convincing Proof, at a Time when that Monarch was so extremely angry with the City of London, that when the Lord Mayor and Aldermen went to Court, with a View to pacify him, he exclaimed bitterly against them, and told ’em, that he knew how to make them feel the whole Weight of his Resentment, and that he would for that End remove his Court to Oxford. At this the old Alderman, who pretended to be hard of Hearing, said to a Nobleman that was present at the Audience, loud enough to be over-heard by the King, What says his Majesty, my Lord? Will he in his Wrath take the Thames from us? Meaning thereby, that since the King could not take that River from the City, the Inhabitants would not be sorry for his going to Oxford. Indeed, in all my Travels I never saw a finer Sight than this River, from its Mouth to London-Bridge: