The Love Of Their Country,
And Its Unparalleled Feats In War Are, In General, The Subject Of
Their Ballads And Popular Songs, Which Are Sung About The Streets By
Women, Who Sell 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 supported.
I know not well
by what means it has happened that the King of England, who is
certainly one of the best the nation ever had, is become unpopular.
I know not how many times I have heard people of all sorts object to
their king at the same time that they praised the King of Prussia to
the skies. Indeed, with some the veneration for our monarch went so
far that they seriously wished he was their king. All that seems to
shock and dishearten them is the prodigious armies he keeps up, and
the immense number of soldiers quartered in Berlin alone. Whereas
in London, at least in the city, not a single troop of soldiers of
the King's guard dare make their appearance.
A few days ago I saw what is here deemed a great sight - viz., a lord
mayor's procession. The lord mayor was in an enormous large gilt
coach, which was followed by an astonishing number of most showy
carriages, in which the rest of the city magistrates, more properly
called aldermen of London, were seated. But enough for the present.
CHAPTER VI.
London, June 17th, 1782.
I have now been pretty nearly all over London, and, according to my
own notions, have now seen most of the things I was most anxious to
see. Hereafter, then, I propose to make an excursion into the
country; and this purpose, by the blessing of God, I hope to be able
to carry into effect in a very few days, for my curiosity is here
almost satiated. I seem to be tired and sick of the smoke of these
sea-coal fires, and I long, with almost childish impatience, once
more to breathe a fresher and clearer air.
It must, I think, be owned, that upon the whole, London is neither
so handsomely nor so well built as Berlin is; but then it certainly
has far more fine squares. Of these there are many that in real
magnificence and beautiful symmetry far surpass our Gens d'Armes
Markt, our Denhoschen and William's Place. The squares or
quadrangular places contain the best and most beautiful buildings of
London; a spacious street, next to the houses, goes all round them,
and within that there is generally a round grass-plot, railed in
with iron rails, in the centre of which, in many of them, there is a
statue, which statues most commonly are equestrian and gilt. In
Grosvenor Square, instead of this green plot or area, there is a
little circular wood, intended, no doubt, to give one the idea of
rus in urbe.
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