City Scenes Part 10

79. The Waterman, the Ticket Porter, and Fellows.h.i.+p Porter.

[Picture: The Waterman, the Ticket Porter, and Fellows.h.i.+p Porter]

The privilege of working as a waterman on the river Thames, is only to be obtained by servitude or birth-right; and freemen only can work as porters in the city, for which they wear a ticket as a badge of privilege, and on which their names are stamped and numbered; but the privilege of bringing salt, fish, coals, fruit, and other goods on sh.o.r.e, from s.h.i.+ps, boats, or barges, belongs to the Company of Fellows.h.i.+p Porters. All the firemen in London must be watermen or lightermen.

80. The Coach-stand.

[Picture: The Coach-stand]

Nothing can exceed the noise, bustle, and hurry, of the streets of London, where carriages are pa.s.sing backward and forward during the whole day, and most of the night. Carts are creaking under heavy loads of merchandise, mail-coaches are driving to and from the post-office with the letter-bags, and more than a thousand hackney-coaches and chariots are sometimes in motion at once on a rainy day. These are a great convenience in London; for, to whatever part of the town you may wish to go, you have only to beckon to a coachman, and

He'll drive you home quickly, and when you are there, You have nothing to do but to pay him his _fare_.

That gentleman and lady have called to a coachman to take them home; and the waterman, who attends on hackney-coaches and their employers, seems to be enquiring where they are going. We would recommend every person who hires a hackney coach in London, to notice what number is on the door, which, on many occasions, has been found very useful.

I am an old coachman, and drive a good hack, With a coat of five capes that quite covers my back; And my wife keeps a sausage-shop, not many miles From the narrowest alley in all broad St. Giles'.

What tho' at a tavern my gentleman tarries, Why, the coachman grows richer than he whom he carries; And I'd rather, says I, since it keeps me from sin, Be the driver without, than the toper within.

And tho' I'm a coachman, I freely confess, I beg of my Maker my labours to bless; I praise him each morning, and pray ev'ry night, And 'tis this makes my heart feel so cheerful and light.

81. New Milk from the Cow.

[Picture: New milk from the cow]

That lady and her children, who have gone from Cheapside to Islington, may fancy themselves at a farm in the country; the fields look so green, the fresh air is so reviving, and the warm milk so delightfully sweet.

Let us hope they will all receive some benefit from their morning excursion; for a walk, and a draught of new milk, must contribute greatly to the health of children who are confined for the rest of the day in a crowded city. The old gentleman on the bench seems also to have had his draught, and is contemplating the fine shape of the gentle cow.

.82 Skating.

[Picture: Skating]

There go the apprentice and beauish young spark, To skate on the frozen ca.n.a.l in the park!

Each bent upon showing his skill and his speed: And, truly, there's one _bent upon it_, indeed.

Nay, if you go on where the ice is so thin, You will not be long _on_, my good fellow, but _in_.

83. The hard Frost.

[Picture: The hard frost]

What a picture of winter! The water in the leaden pipes, leading from the large iron ones underground, into the houses, is frozen. As some part of the pipe is generally exposed to the cold air, this stoppage frequently happens in a frost, so that the turn-c.o.c.k is obliged to put a small wooden pipe into one of the large ones underground, {75} that the people may procure water. The poor woman's cloak is frozen so hard, that it looks like a great wing. The little boy blows his fingers to make them warmer: and there is a man throwing the snow off the house, that it may not soak through to the chamber ceiling when a thaw comes. What a blessing to have a good house and a comfortable fire-side, when the weather is so severe.

84. The Fire-plug.

[Picture: The Fire-plug]

The turn-c.o.c.k, as he is called, has just opened a fire-plug, or rather water-plug; but as its princ.i.p.al use is to supply water to the engines for extinguis.h.i.+ng fires, it has acquired the former name, more from custom than propriety. Some boys make rare sport, by putting one foot on the stream, and dividing the course of the water; it is thus driven into the air, and over their companions or pa.s.sengers.

At first sight it seems impossible for water to run up hill; and yet, by a little ingenuity, this is easily done; for, put water into what you please, and one side or end of it will always rise as high as the other.

It is by knowing and thinking about this, that clever men have contrived to supply whole cities with water, and even to send it up into the highest rooms of a house. They first of all make a great reservoir, or collection of water, on some neighbouring hill, from which pipes are carried, underground, to all the houses they wish to supply; the water in that end of the pipes next the town, always rising as high as that in the reservoir at the other end of them. If they cannot find a convenient spring, sufficiently high, they force the water to a proper height by pumps and steam-engines; and by these inventions, do with ease, what the best ancient philosophers might have thought impossible. When one of the great pipes, which run through the streets of London, happens to burst, the water soon forces up the pavement, and a fountain is produced.

85. The London Docks

[Picture: The London Docks]

Are situated in Wapping, between Ratcliffe Highway and the Thames. One of the docks is so large, that it covers more than twenty acres of ground, being 1262 feet long, and 699 feet wide. It was first opened on the 31st of January, 1805. The new dock covers a s.p.a.ce of fourteen acres. There are also immense warehouses. One of them is 762 feet long, and 160 feet wide, a representation of which was too large to introduce into our picture; but we have given a view of the grand entrance, with a s.h.i.+p going into the docks, to be unladen of her merchandise, which will be taken care of in one of those warehouses, till it is sold for public use.

86, 87. Greenwich and Chelsea Hospitals, and Pensioners,

[Picture: Greenwich and Chelsea Hospitals, and Pensioners]

The wise and benevolent design of founding an hospital for those brave men who have been disabled by age or accident, from serving any longer in the navy, is said, to the honour of the female s.e.x, to have originated with that excellent woman, Queen Mary, the wife of King William the Third; and the founding of an asylum for invalid soldiers at Chelsea, was also attributed to a female, one of King Charles the Second's favourites.

The buildings at each place are more like palaces than hospitals, and great care is taken to render the objects of the inst.i.tution comfortable in their situations. The hospital at Chelsea, with its appendages, covers above forty acres of ground. There are three hundred and thirty-six in-door pensioners, and an unlimited number of out-door pensioners, who receive an annual allowance of seven pounds twelve s.h.i.+llings and sixpence each. Greenwich Hospital admits two thousand three hundred and fifty pensioners, who are provided with lodging, food, clothing, and pocket-money; exclusive of about twelve hundred out-pensioners, who receive seven pounds each per annum. Both hospitals are situated by the water-side. At Chelsea, the pensioners have gardens and fields to walk in; and at Greenwich, there is a large and pleasant park.

[Picture: Greenwich and Chelsea Hospitals, and Pensioners]

THE END.

Joseph Rickerby, Printer, Sherbourn Lane.