support the pangs of hunger any longer,
acquitted the prisoner. The president,
astonished at the obstinacy of the judge, asked
him in private his reason for believing the
prisoner to be innocent. The judge, or juryman,
having bound the president, by oath,
not to reveal the secret, declared that he
himself was the murderer; and that he would
not add to his crimes, by hanging an innocent
man. It is principally in the Englishman's
laws regarding death punishments and his
executions that I find him grievously at
fault; for to judge as a stranger, you would
say that he perseveres in his system of
public hanging only to provide agreeable
spectacles for the people; and that he
encourages thieves, to provide convicted
criminals.

I will now turn my attention from the
Englishman to the city of which he is proud.
London consists of long straight streets,
which are, however, badly paved. It is now
the largest city in Europe, yet it is continually
increasing; and houses are built in half the
time they take to build abroad. "Whitehal,"
situated on the banks of the Thames, is a
commodious, but an ugly old house, the only
real palatial chamber of which is the
"Banquetinhouse." The King lives in a little
house at "Kengsington," to avoid the thick
air and smoke of the city. The park,
however, is very fine. Charles the Second sent
for the ingenious man who laid out the
Tuileries in Paris, to lay out his park; but
this man, on arriving, declared that he could
not improve upon the natural picturesqueness
of the ground, and persuaded the King
to leave it as it was. After the park, I like
the Thames as my place of diversion. A
private house called in London, "a thing to
see," is the mansion of my Lord Montaigu.
All that this house requires are — furniture
and company; it appears to be the palace of
a prince who never lives in it. The Tower of
London, full of crowns and sceptres, hatchets
and clubs, lions and leopards, is worth
seeing; but the most interesting building is
the Temple of St. Paul, which is not yet
finished, but is already in a forward state.
In five or six years, this vast work will be
completed. It is one of the largest edifices of
Europe, and is capable of arresting all the
vice of London, if the efficacy of the sermons
be in proportion to the capacity of the temple.
"Westminster" is curious for its antiquity.
Then there is the Monument. On the basement
there is an inscription, in which the
papists are accused of being the authors of
the great fire. King James caused this
inscription to be erased; but the stern Englishmen
had it afterwards cut deep into the
stone. Being addicted to revolutions, it
appears to me that this monument is likely
to fall at last by having its base cut through
in this way.

London contains a prodigious number of
ill-smelling coffee-houses: here persons loiter
and waste their time; and here men of
business carry on their affairs, so that people
ask for a man's coffee-house, instead of his
office. Coffee is not the only beverages sold
in these houses.

Here also people smoke, drink, play, read
the papers, and not seldom write them.
Here verdicts are passed upon the Prince, and
the government, and the honour of husbands.
Here a foreigner, if he can stand the
atmosphere of a guard-house, may study the
Englishman's character, observe his deliberate
manner, and notice that he never interrupts
his neighbour's speech. The public-houses
are known by magnificent painted signs, some
of which are equal in value to the rest of the
establishment. London shops are magnificent,
and the shopkeepers are remarkable for not
pressing their customers to buy articles they
do not want, as the custom is in France and
Holland. Public carriages are cheap and
abundant; and in this respect London is far
in advance of Paris. The streets are dark; a
few lanterns have been hung up lately, but
they are of little or no use.

The country in England is very verdant; but
then the Englishman, in his humid climate,
has leaves instead of fruit. All the fruit he
has is almost tasteless, with the exception of
his "golden pepins." English flowers have
only the faintest perfume; and English game
is insipid. There are no vines in England,
so that the Englishman has to trust to the
foreigner for his wine. The Englishman's
habits in the country are rude enough. He
gets only half-drunk at his host's table; so
that he may have the pleasure of completing
his inebriation with his host's servants.

Here the details of the old portrait of the
Hague may be closed, and the Englishman of
to-day may be left to make his comparisons
—to see himself as others saw him in the early
days of the Georges. The picture is not
without its instructive passages, as well as
its ludicrous points. It is left exactly as it
was drawn at the Hague, for the reader's
examination.

On the Fifth of August will be published, in Household
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HARD TIMES.
BY CHARLES DICKENS.
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The NINTH VOLUME of Household Words, price
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