 Lucken-Booths, had not
thrust itself, by what accident I know not, into the middle of the way, like
Middle-Row in Holborn. The city stands upon two hills, and the bottom between
them; and, with all its defects, may very well pass for the capital of a
moderate kingdom - It is full of people, and continually resounds with the noise
of coaches and other carriages, for luxury as well as commerce. As far as I can
perceive, here is no want of provisions - The beef and mutton are as delicate
here as in Wales; the sea affords plenty of good fish; the bread is remarkably
fine; and the water is excellent, though I'm afraid not in sufficient quantity
to answer all the purposes of cleanliness and convenience; articles in which, it
must be allowed, our fellow-subjects are a little defective - The water is
brought in leaden pipes from a mountain in the neighbourhood, to a cistern on
the Castle-hill, from whence it is distributed to public conduits in different
parts of the city - From these it is carried in barrels, on the backs of male
and female porters, up two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight pair of
stairs, for the use of particular families - Every story is a complete house,
occupied by a separate family; and the stair being common to them all, is
generally left in a very filthy condition; a man must tread with great
circumspection to get safe housed with unpolluted shoes - Nothing can form a
stronger contrast, than the difference betwixt the outside and inside of the
door; for the good-women of this metropolis are remarkably nice in the ornaments
and propriety of their apartments, as if they were resolved to transfer the
imputation from the individual to the public. You are no stranger to their
method of discharging all their impurities from their windows, at a certain hour
of the night, as the custom is in Spain, Portugal, and some parts of France and
Italy - A practice to which I can by no means be reconciled; for notwithstanding
all the care that is taken by their scavengers to remove this nuisance every
morning by break of day, enough still remains to offend the eyes, as well as
other organs of those whom use has not hardened against all delicacy of
sensation.
    The inhabitants seem insensible to these impressions, and are apt to imagine
the disgust that we avow is little better than affectation; but they ought to
have some compassion for strangers, who have not been used to this kind of
sufferance; and consider
