Election for a Member of Parliament.

THE cities of London and Westminster fend, the one four, and the other two members to Parliament, Mr. Fox is one of the two members for Westminster; one feat was vacant, and that vacancy was now to be filled. And the fame fir Cecil Wray, whom Fox had before opposed to lord Hood, was now publicly chofen. They tell me that at thefe elections, when there is a ftrong oppofition-party, there is often bloody work; but this election was, in the electioneering phrafe, a "hollow thing," i. e. quite fure; as thofe who had voted for admiral Hood now withdrew, without ftanding a poll; as being convinced beforehand, their chance to fucceed was defperate.

The election was held in covent-garden, a large market-place, in the open air. There was a fcaffold crected juft before the door of a very handfome church, which is alfo called St. Paul's; but which however is not to be compared to the cathedral.

A temporary edifice, formed only of boards and wood nailed together, was erected on the occafion. It was called the huftings, and filled with benches; and at one end of it, where the benches ended, mats were laid; on which thofe who fpoke to the people, ftood. In the area before the huftings, immenfe multitudes of people were affembled; of whom the greatest part seemed to be of the lowest order. To this tumultuous crowd, however, the speakers often bowed very low, and always addreffed them by the title of gentlemen. Sir Cecil Wray was obliged to ftep forward and promise these fame gentlemen, with hand and heart, that he would faithfully fulfil his duties, as their reprefentative. He alfo made an apology, because, on account of his long journey, and ill health, he had not been abie to wait on them, as became him, at their respective houfes. The moment that he began to speak even this rude rabble became all as quiet as the raging fea after a ftorm; only every now and then rending the air with the parliamentary cry of hear him! hear him! and as foon as he had done fpeaking, they again vociferated aloud an univerfal huzza, every one, at the fame time, waving his

hat.

And now, being formally declared to have been legally chofen, he again bowed most profoundly, and returned thanks for the great honour done him: when a well-dreffed man, whofe name I could not learn, ftepped forward, and in a well indited fpeech congratulated both the chofen and the chufers. "Upon my word," faid a gruff carter, who stood near me, "that man speaks well."

Even little boys clambered up and hung on the rails and on the lamp-posts; and as if the fpeeches had also been addressed to them, they too liftened with the utmost attention and they too teftified their approbation of it, by joining luftily in the three cheers, and waving their hats.

All the enthufiafm of my earliest years, kindled by the patriotifm of the illuftrious heroes of Rome, Coriolanus, Julius Cæfar, and Antony, were now revived in my mind: and though all I had just seen and heard, be, in fact, but the femblance of liberty, and that too tribunitial liberty, yet at that moment, I thought it charming, and it warmed my heart. Yes, depend on it, my friend, when you here see how, in this happy country, the loweft and meaneft member of fociety, thus unequivocally teftifies the intereft which he takes in every thing of a public nature; when you fee, how even women and children bear a part in the great concerns of their country; in fhort, how high and low, rich and poor, all concur in declaring their feelings and their convictions, that a carter, a common tar, or a scavenger, is still a man, nay, an Englishman; and as fuch has his rights and privileges defined and known as exactly and as well as his king, or as his king's minister-take my word for it, you will feel

yourself

yourself very differently affected from what you are, when ftaring at our foldiers in their exercises at Berlin.

When Fox, who was among the voters, arrived at the beginning of the election, he too was received with an univerfal fhout of joy. At length, when it was nearly over, the people took it into their heads to hear him speak, and every one called out Fox! Fox! I know not why, but I feemed to catch fome of the spirit of the place and time; and fo I alfo bawled Fox! Fox! and he was obliged to come forward and speak; for no other reason that I could find, but that the people wished to hear him fpeak. In this fpeech he again confirmed, in the prefence of the people, his former declaration in parliament, that he by no means had any influence as minister of state in this election, but only and merely as a private person.

When the whole was over, the rampant fpirit of liberty, and the wild impatience of a genuine English mob, were exhibited in perfection. In a very few minutes the whole fcaffolding, benches, and chairs, and every thing elfe, was completely destroyed; and the mat with which it had been covered torn into ten thoufand long ftrips or pieces, or strings, with which they encircled or enclosed multitudes of people of all ranks. Thefe they hurried along with them, and every thing elfe that came in their way, as trophies of joy; and thus, in the midft of exultation and triumph, they paraded through many of the most populous ftreets of London.

Whilft in Pruffia, poets only fpeak of the love of country as one of the dearest of all human affections, here there is no man who does not feel, and defcribe with rapture, how much he loves his country. "Yes, for my country I'll fhed the last drop of my blood!" often exclaims little Jacky, the fine boy here in the house where I live, who is yet only about twelve years old. The love of their country, and its unparalleled feats in war, are, in general, the fubject of their ballads and popular fongs, which are fung about the streets by women, who fell them for a few farthings. It was only the other day our Jacky brought one home, in which the history of an admiral was celebrated, who bravely continued to command, even after his two legs were shot off, and he was obliged to be fupported. I know not well by what means it has happened, that the king of England, who is certainly one of the beft the nation ever had, is become unpopular. I know not how many times I have heard people of all forts object to their king, at the fame time that they praifed the king of Pruffia to the fkies. Indeed, with fome, the veneration for our monarch went fo far, that they seriously wifhed he was their king. All that feems to fhock and difhearten them, is the prodigious armies he keeps up, and the immenfe number of foldiers quartered in Berlin alone. Whereas in London, at least in the city, not a single troop of foldiers of the king's guard, dare make their

appearance.

A few days ago I faw (what is here deemed a great fight, viz.) a lord-mayor's proceffion. The lord mayor was in an enormous large gilt coach, which was followed by an astonishing number of moft fhewy carriages, in which the rest of the city magiftrates, more properly called aldermen of London, were feated.-But enough for the prefent.

London, June 17th, 1782.

I HAVE now been pretty nearly all over London, and, according to my own notions, have now seen moft of the things I was most anxious to fee. Hereafter then, I propofe to make an excurfion into the country; and this purpofe, by the bleffing of God, I hope to be able to carry into effect in a very few days, for my curiofity is here

almost

almost fatiated. I feem to be tired and fick of the smoke of these fea-coal fires, and I long, with almost childish impatience, once more to breathe a fresher and clearer air.

It muft, I think, be owned, that upon the whole, London is neither fo handfomely nor fo well built as Berlin is, but then it certainly has far more fine fquares. Of thefe there are many that in real magnificence, and beautiful fymmetry, far furpafs our Gens d'Armes Markt, our Denhofchen, and Williams Place. The fquares or quadrangular places, contain the best and most beautiful buildings of London; a spacious street, next to the houfes, goes all round them, and within that there is generally a round grafsplot, railed in with iron rails, in the centre of which, in many of them, there is a ftatue, which flatues most commonly are equestrian and gilt. In Grofvenor-square, inftead of this green plot, or area, there is a little circular wood, intended, no doubt, to give one the idea of rus in urbe.

One of the longest and pleasantest walks I have yet taken is from Paddington to Iflington; where to the left you have a fine profpect of the neighbouring hills, and in particular of the village of Hampstead, which is built on one of them; and to the right the ftreets of London furnifh an endlefs variety of interefting views. It is true, that it is dangerous to walk here alone, especially in the afternoon, and in an evening, or at night; for it was only laft week that a man was robbed and murdered on this very fame road. But I now halten to another and a more pleasing topic:

The British Mufeum..

I HAVE had the happiness to become acquainted with the Rev. Mr. Woide; who, though well known all over Europe, to be one of the moft learned men of the age, is yet, if poffible, lefs eftimable for his learning, than he is for his unaffected goodness of heart. He holds a refpectable office in the Museum, and was obliging enough to procure me permiffion to fee it, luckily the day before it was fhut up. In general you muft give in your name a fortnight before you can be admitted. But after all, I am forry to fay, it was the rooms, the glafs cafes, the fhelves, or the repository for the books in the British Museum which I faw, and not the Museum itself, we were hurried on fo rapidly through the apartments. The company, who faw it when and as I did, was various, and fome of all forts; fome, I believe, of the very lowest claffes of the people, of both fexes; for, as it is the property of the nation, every one has the fame right (I ufe the term of the country) to fee it that another has. I had Mr. Wendeborn's book in my pocket, and it, at least, enabled me to take a fomewhat more particular notice of fome of the principal things; fuch as the Egyptian mummy, an head of Homer, &c. The reft of the company, obferving that I had fome affiftance which they had not, foon gathered round me; I pointed out to them as we went along, from Mr. Wendeborn's German book, what there was most worth feeing here. The gentleman who conducted us, took little pains to conceal the contempt which he felt for my communications, when he found out that it was only a German defcription of the British Museum I had got. The rapidly paffing through this vaft fuite of rooms, in a fpace of time little, if at all, exceeding an hour; with leifure just to caft one poor longing look of aftonishment on all thele ftupendous treasures of natural curiofities, antiquities, and literature; in the contemplation of which you could with pleasure spend years, and a whole life might be employed in the ftudy of them-quite confufes, ftuns, and overpowers one. In fome branches this collection is faid to be far furpaffed by fome others; but taken altogether, and for fize, it certainly is equalled by none.

The

The few foreign divines who travel through England, generally defire to have the Alexandrian manufcript fhewn them, in order to be convinced with their own eyes, whether the paffage, "These are the three that bear record, &c." is to be found there

or not.

The Rev. Mr. Woide lives at a place called Liffor.-street, not far from Paddington; a very village-looking little town, at the weft end of London. It is quite a rural and pleafant fituation; for here I either do, or fancy I do, already breathe a purer and freer air than in the midft of the town. Of his great abilities, and particularly in oriental literature, I need not inform you; but it will give you pleasure to hear that he is actually meditating a fac-fimile edition of the Alexandrian MS. I have already mentioned the infinite obligations I lie under to this excellent man for his extraordinary courtesy and kindness.

The Theatre in the Hay-market.

LAST week I went twice to an English play-house. The first time " The Nabob" was represented, of which the late Mr. Foote was the author, and for the entertainment, a very pleafing and laughable mufical farce, called "The Agreeable Suprize;" the fecond time I faw"The English Merchant;" which piece has been tranflated into German, and is known among us by the title of "The Scotchwoman," or "The Coffee-house." I have not yet seen the theatres of Covent-garden and Drury-lane, because they are not open in fummer. The best actors alfo usually spend May and October in the country, and only perform in winter.

A very few excepted, the comedians whom I faw were certainly nothing extraordinary. For a feat in the boxes you pay five fhillings, in the pit three, in the firft gallery two, and in the fecond or upper gallery, one fhilling. And it is the tenants in this upper gallery who, for their fhilling, make all that noife and uproar for which the English play-houses are fo famous. I was in the pit, which gradually rifes, amphitheatre-wife, from the orchestra, and is furnished with benches, one above another, from the top to the bottom. Often and often, whilft I fat here, did a rotten orange, or pieces of the peel of an orange, fly past me, or paft fome of my neighbours, and once one of them actually hit my hat, without my daring to look round, for fear another might then hit me on my face.

All over London as one walks, one every where, in the season, fees oranges to fell; and they are in general fold tolerably cheap, one and even fometimes two for a halfpenny; or in our money, three-pence. At the play-houfe, however, they charged me fix-pence for one ornage, and that noways remarkably good.

Befides this perpetual pelting from the gallery, which renders an English play house fo uncomfortable, there is no end to their calling out and knocking with their sticks, till the curtain is drawn up. I faw a miller's, or a baker's boy, thus, like a huge booby, leaning over the rails and knocking again and again on the outside, with all his might, fo that he was feen by every body, without being in the least afhamed or abafhed. I fometimes heard too the people in the lower or middle gallery quarrelling with those of the upper one. Behind me, in the pit, fat a young fop, who, in order to difplay his coftly ftone-buckles with the utmost brilliancy, continually put his foot on my bench, and even fometimes upon my coat, which I could avoid only by fparing him as much space from my portion of the feat, as would make him a footftool.

VOL. II.

3 U

In

In the boxes, quite in a corner, fat feveral fervants, who were faid to be placed there to keep the feats for the families they ferved, till they fhould arrive; they feemed to fit remarkably clofe and ftill, the reafon of which, I was told, was their appre henfion of being pelted; for if one of them dares but to look out of the box, he is immediately faluted with a fhower of orange peel from the gallery.

In Foote's Nabob there are fundry local and perfonal fatires, which are entirely loft to a foreigner. The character of the Nabob was performed by a Mr. Palmer. The jett of the character is, this Nabob with many affected airs and conftant aims at gentility, is ftill but a filly fellow, unexpectedly come into the poffeffion of immenfe riches, and therefore, of courfe, paid much court to by a fociety of natural philofophers, quakers, and I do not know who befides. Being tempted to become one of their members, he is elected; and in order to ridicule thefe would-be philofophers, but real knaves, a fine flowery fuftian fpeech is put into his mouth, which he delivers with prodigious pomp and importance, and is liftened to by the philofophers with infinite complacency. The two fcenes of the quakers and philofophers, who with countenances full of imaginary importance were feated at a green table with their prefident at their head, while the fecretary with the utmost care was making an inventory of the ridiculous prefents of the Nabob, were truly laughable. One of the last scenes was beft received: It is that in which the Nabob's friend and fchool-fellow vifit him, and addrefs him without ceremony by his chriftian name; but to all their queftions of "Whether he does not recollect them? Whether he does not remember fuch and fuch a play; or fuch and fuch a scrape into which they had fallen in their youth?" He uniformly anfwers with a look of ineffable contempt, only, "No fir!" Nothing can poflibly be more ludicrous, nor more comic.

The entertainment, The Agreeable Surprise, is really a very diverting farce. I obferved that, in England alfo, they represent school-mafters in ridiculous characters on the stage; which though I am forry for, I own I do not wonder at, as the pedantry of school-masters in England, they tell me, is carried at least as far as it is elsewhere. The fame person who, in the play, performed the school-fellow of the Nabob with a great deal of nature and original humour, here acted the part of the school-mafter: his name is Edwin, and he is, without doubt, one of the best actors of all that I have feen.

This school-master is in love with a certain country girl, whofe name is Cowflip, to whom he makes a declaration of his paffion in a strange mythological, grammatical ftile and manner, and to whom, among other fooleries, he fings, quite enraptured, the following air, and feems to work himself at leaft up to fuch a tranfport of paffion, as quite over-powers him. He begins, you will obferve, with the conjugation, and ends with the declenfions and the genders; the whole is inimitably droll:

Those two fentences in particular, in the Nominative Cafe, and in the Feminine Gender, he affects to fing in a particularly languifhing air, as if confident that it was irre fiftible. This Edwin, in all his comic characters, ftill preferves fomething fo inex preffibly good tempered in his countenance, that notwithstanding all his burlefques, and