He conjures all sober honest tradesmen who love their wives to walk abroad with them and their children. "And whereas Mr. Mist has been informed, that in holiday times divers persons of distinction and figure transform themselves into the shapes of journeymen, apprentices, and other mechanical habits, to trepan young wenches out of their modesty; he therefore requires of all viceroys and governors of families to give the strictest orders for their female children and servants to repair to their respective habitations before candle-light.
"All journeymen Drapers, Mercers, Lawyers-clerks, and other ten or twelve-shilling workmen, are strictly forbid to cause riots and routs in the streets concerning precedency, as they return from their carouses in the night-time.
"N. B. Bullies and Gamesters, who have an indisputable right to make disturbances every night in the year, are not meant in this article.
"Journeymen Shoemakers are desired to take notice, that by an antient statute, yet unrepealed, any of their function going sober to bed on the night of Whitsun-Monday forfeits 5s.; upon
non-payment to be levied by distress, one moiety to the informer, and the other to the poor alehouse-keepers of the Parish where the fact was committed."
The horrid custom of Duelling never was at a greater height than at the above date. The newspapers from 1700 to 1719 appear to have preserved their progression faithfully; every gaming-table, despicable brothel, tavern, coffee-house, masquerade, the theatres, and even festive meetings, produced its duellist; and the universal fashion of wearing swords allowed no time for passion to subside, or reason to reflect; a walk into the street or into an adjoining room, enabled the parties to wound each other in an instant; revenge and pain maddened them; and death frequently ensued to both. Government at length interfered; but duelling has again recovered from temporary interruption!—Doctors Mead and Woodward fought like a pair of butchers, in June 1719, at the very gates of Gresham-college; and every drunken rake who staggered through the streets had it in his power to plunge a sword into an unoffending breast, or to wound where he now dare not strike. Dead bodies were frequently found; and the thief and the duellist seemed emulous which should furnish the Diaries of the time with the greater number of victims. Robberies, attended with monstrous cruelty, were dreadfully frequent; and such was the general
profligacy of the age, that the paragraph-writers endeavoured to convey horrid facts with a levity of expression suited to the coarseness of their style, which was truly vulgar throughout all the newspapers. Let one instance speak for me: "People sicken and die at an uncommon rate in and about this city and suburbs; and there is a sad outcry raised (especially by antient females) of a plague, pestilence, and what not, which has occasioned abundance of people to leave the town, and fly to the countries for refuge, whilst horse and foot physicians, mountebanks, dead-mongers, parish-clerks, and other lesser ministers of dust and ashes, are continually in motion in one part or other to perform their several offices; and we hear that in some parishes the sexton or grave-digger can afford to employ two or three journeymen."
Original Weekly Journal, May 22, 1719.
It must, however, be allowed that frequent attempts were made to resist the progress of vice, and many of the Justices concurred in warning the people of the illegality of their conduct; ten of them, at a special Session held for the division of the Tower, in pursuance of an order made at the General Quarter Sessions for Middlesex, on the 19th of January 1719, for putting in execution the Statute of 33 Henry VIII. Cap. 9, directed authentic copies of the order to be given to all victuallers, &c. whom it concerned, and
also to be affixed in all public places within that Division; "That none shall keep or maintain any house or place of unlawful games, on pain of 40s. for every day, of forfeiting their recognizance, and of being suppressed; that none shall use or haunt such places on pain of 6s. 8d. for every offence; and that no artificer, or his journeyman, husbandman, apprentice, labourer, servant at husbandry, mariner, fisherman, waterman, or serving-man, shall play at tables, tennis, dice, cards, bowls, clash, coiting, loggating, or any other unlawful game, out of Christmas, or then out of their master's house or presence, on pain of 20s."