interrupted by two Watermen, who, doubling their fists at them, cried, 'French dogs, speak your damned French, if you dare.'
"Happening to go one evening from the part of the town where I lived to the Museum, I passed by the Seven-dials. The place was crowded with people waiting to see a poor wretch stand in the pillory, whose punishment was deferred to another day. The mob, provoked at this disappointment, vented their rage upon all that passed that way, whether a-foot or in coaches; and threw at them dirt, rotten eggs, dead dogs, and all sorts of trash and ordure, which they had provided to pelt the unhappy wretch, according to custom. Their fury fell chiefly upon the hackney-coaches, the drivers of which they forced to salute them with their whips and their hats, and to cry huzza; which word is a signal for rallying in all public frays. The disturbance upon this occasion was so much the greater, as the person who was to have acted the principal part in the scene, which by being postponed had put the rabble into such an ill-humour, belonged to the nation which that rabble thinks it has most right to insult.
"In England, no rank or dignity is secure from their insults. The young Queen herself was exposed to them upon her first arrival at London: the rabble was affronted at her
Majesty's keeping one window of her sedan chair drawn up.
"The politeness, the civility, and the officiousness of people of good breeding, whom we meet in the streets, as well as the obliging readiness of the citizens and shopkeepers, even of the inferior sort, sufficiently indemnify and console us for the insolence of the mob, as I have often experienced.
"Whatever haste a gentleman may be in, whom you happen to meet in the streets, as soon as you speak to him, he stops to answer, and often steps out of his way to direct you, or to consign you to the care of some one who seems to be going the same way. A gentleman one day put me in this manner under the care of a handsome young directress, who was returning home with a fine young child in her arms. I travelled on very agreeably, though I had a great way to go, lending an arm to my guide; and we conversed together as well as two persons could do, one of whom scarce understood a word spoken by the other. I had frequent conversations of this sort in the streets, in which, notwithstanding all the pains I took to make myself understood, and others took to understand me, I could not succeed: I then would quit my guide, and say to him, with a laugh, and squeeze of the hand, Tower of Babylon! He would laugh on his side likewise; and so we used to part.
"Having occasion to inquire for a certain person in Oxford-road, I shewed his address at the first shop I came to; when out stepped a young man, in white silk stockings, a waistcoat of fine cloth, and an apron about his waist. After having examined whether I was able to follow him, he made me a sign, and began to run on before me. During this race, which was from one end of the street to the other, I thought that my guide had interest in view; and therefore I got ready a shilling, which I offered him upon arriving at the proper place; but he refused it with generous disdain, and taking hold of my hand, which he shook violently, he thanked me for the pleasure I had procured him. I afterwards saw him at the tabernacle of the Methodists.
"To take a man in this manner by the arm, and shake it till his shoulder is almost dislocated, is one of the grand testimonies of friendship which the English give each other, when they happen to meet: this they do very coolly; there is no expression of friendship in their countenances, yet the whole soul enters the arm which gives the shake. This supplies the place of the embraces and salutes of the French. The English seem to regulate their behaviour upon these occasions by the rules prescribed by Alexander Severus to those who approached his person[390:A].
"I met with the same politeness and civil treatment at all the public and private assemblies to which I was admitted. At the House of Lords as well as at the House of Commons, a foreigner may take the liberty to address himself to any gentleman who understands his language; and those who are applied to upon these occasions think it their duty to answer his questions. At the first meeting of the House of Lords to try Lord Byron, I happened to be seated amidst a family as much distinguished by their high rank as their amiable qualities. They all shewed the utmost eagerness to satisfy my curiosity with regard to the several particulars of this extraordinary spectacle; to explain to me all that was said; to instruct me with regard to the origin of the most remarkable ceremonies; and, in fine, to share with me the refreshments, which the length of the trial made it necessary for them to provide.
"When the King came to the House of Lords to give the royal assent to Bills, one of the Bishops near whom I was seated offered to be my interpreter; and he took upon him to serve me in that capacity during the whole time I staid.