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Max Schlesinger. Saunterings in and about London
Saunterings in and about London
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I
CHAP. II. Street Life
CHAP. III. The Squares.—Lincoln’s Inn
CHAP. IV. Up the Thames.—Vauxhall
CHAP. V. The Police
CHAP. VI. Newgate and its Neighbourhood
CHAP. VII. Street Life.—The Post-office
CHAP. VIII. Sunlight—Moonlight—Gaslight
CHAP. IX. The City Capitol
CHAP. X. Hyde Park
CHAP. XI. The Quarters of Fashion
CHAP. XII. Gentlemen and Foreigners
SAUNTERINGS IN AND ABOUT LONDON
CHAPTER I. Down the Thames
CHAP. II. The Theory of Locomotion
CHAP. III. The Quarters of Royalty and Government
CHAP. IV. Westminster.—The Parliament
CHAP. V. The Periodical Press—Its Mechanism and Distribution
CHAP. VI. The Bank
CHAP. VII. Four-and-twenty Hours at the Times’ Office
CHAP. VIII. A Frenchman’s Notions
CHAP. IX. The Theatrical Quarters
APPENDIX
CORRESPONDENCE. Letter I
Letter II
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Max Schlesinger
Published by Good Press, 2021
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The crown of England rested in those days on the head of the second Charles. At his side was his brother, the Duke of York, the evil genius of Charles and of England. Charles, and James his brother, listened to the counsels of France and of Rome, for they wanted money, and the Whigs would only consent to vote the people’s money in exchange for some crumbs of liberty for the people. Thus it came to pass that England’s honour was sold to France, and the “rebellious” Parliament was dissolved, and the press put down; the liberties of the city were curtailed; venal men were placed on the bench, and venal witnesses thronged the courts; the best men of England were put into jail and arraigned on charges of high treason. Among the best and bravest was William Russell.
They accused him of having conspired against the king’s life, and sent him to the Tower. Witnesses were bribed to appear against him; they were men of proverbial villany. Among them was Lord Howard, of whom the king himself had said he would not hang the worst cur in his kennel on the evidence of that man. But that man’s evidence sufficed to bring the best man in all England to the block. It is the old story—a tail-wagging cur is more considered at court than a thinking man. Lord Russell’s head fell in the centre of this very square. Vainly did his wife implore the king’s mercy. Lord Russell’s head fell in the immediate vicinity of his estates; and the Londoners of those days saw him pass through Holborn on his way to the scaffold. Many wept—many abused him; others jeered at him. The people of that time had even less respect for its heroes and martyrs than the present generation. In our days, even the vilest of the vile are awed into silence when the princes of this earth deliver their political adversaries to the hangman’s rope or the “mercy” of a platoon of rifles.
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