This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1909 edition. Excerpt: ... Moorfields and at Mayfair were very great. But we must discount something from the description of the Methodist preachers, on whose accounts of these things uncritical reliance is too often placed; it was their interest to represent as infinitely THE SHOPS OF LONDON 187 wicked a society which they did ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1909 edition. Excerpt: ... Moorfields and at Mayfair were very great. But we must discount something from the description of the Methodist preachers, on whose accounts of these things uncritical reliance is too often placed; it was their interest to represent as infinitely THE SHOPS OF LONDON 187 wicked a society which they did so much to leaven for the better. The real need of London, thought Defoe, was a second bridge; Blackfriars Bridge was not built until 1760. The activity on the River was still enormous, but it is a foreshadow of modernity that in 1726 the number of hackney coaches was to that of the old wherries as eight is to five. No other city in the kingdom had any cabs then, though there had been, before the Union, a dozen of them in Edinburgh. But was the Thames still 'silver'? I begin to have my doubts of this too: London was already 'a city of smoke and dirt, sin and sea-coal'; 'sea-coal' is coal borne by sea from Newcastle, which cost 4s. a chaldron at pit-mouth and 30s. delivered in London; it was landed in prodigious quantities at Billingsgate and at the Docks. Defoe does not mention the street-lamps, but, forty years later, a German Prince, coming for the first time, was so astonished at them that he was convinced that the illumination was in his honour. Pall Mall was first lighted by gas in 1812. Another intensely modern symptom in George I.'s reign is the short life of many shops, especially of ladies' shops such as silk-mercers. These have quadrupled or sextupled in number since the Restoration, and, owing to the constantly changing feminine fashions, their owners are always going bankrupt. Formerly each trade had its particular street; but now trades shift continually from end to end of the town. The gentlemen, too, are extravagant; their...
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Seller's Description:
Volume 2This book has hardback covers. Ex-library, With usual stamps and markings, In fair condition, suitable as a study copy. No dust jacket. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item, 950grams, ISBN:
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Seller's Description:
This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside. This book has hardback covers. In fair condition, suitable as a study copy. No dust jacket. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item, 750grams, ISBN:
