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CARRIAGES FOR SALE.

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is, in any vehicle; and not having any vehicle about the house but an old wheelbarrow, they sent the patient abroad in it to take the pills, according as, in their conception, the doctor desired! A case somewhat similar now occupies the attention of all the state physicians. The constitution of that most interesting female, Britannia, is undermined and exhausted by a set of leeches that suck her heart's blood, and prey upon her vitals; and the most skilful physicians have prescribed that the following carriages should be employed to carry off the noxious vermin :

The Chancellor.-A heavy, cumbersome carriage. It is badly hung upon its springs, and upon the most level road constantly wavering from side to side. It is, however, very serviceable to patients requiring exercise, as it is highly favourable to motions.

The Gibby. This is a smart hack chaise, but very uneasy. The cypher in black letters, and the wheels very roughly shod. By some mistake they have been rubbed with vinegar instead of oil-this makes them very creaky.

The Westmorland Gig. About twenty years ago, this vehicle was run for two or three years in Ireland, where it broke down. It is now scarcely able to carry ja feather.

The Perceval Landaulet. This sorry vehicle has more places than any waggon upon the road. It is of course an uncommonly roomy carriage; but it is not, like other public carriages, pro bono publico-as it is exclusively devoted to the accommodation of the proprietor, his family, and political friends.

PUBLIC

PUBLIC HONOURS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE GENERAL EVENING POST. SO

SIR,

THE

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HE bestowing of public rewards on meritorious officers of the army and navy, is one of those topics necessarily forced upon the attention of Parlia ment during the debates on the Regency Bill. With any thing, however, that has been said on either side, respecting this delicate subject, I have no inclination to interfere. My present intention is, to make a few remarks on those honours bestowed on our gallant heroes, or popular statesmen, which are more particularly within the gift of the public at large, and which I think of late years have been bestowed in a manner more likely to perpetuate their fame, than was the case formerly.

I am old enough to remember the time when ho nest John Bull had no other way of expressing his gratitude to the eminent characters of his nation, than by hanging up their heads as signs to public houses. This loyalty used to be displayed in a profusion of staring Kings Heads in every part of the metropolis; and when it happened that his prejudices were a little warped, as will sometimes be the case, we had a contest between the Old King's Head, and the King's Head new revived. Many of your readers may like wise remember the Marquis of Granby, the Marlborough Head, and the Pitt's Head, most formidably painted. But of late years this practice has considerably fallen into disrepute; owing, no doubt, to the age becoming more refined and discriminating; and, perhaps, to the just reflection that, when we are disposed to testify our gratitude to statesmen and heroes, we may find some more becoming employment than to

make

PUBLIC HONOURS.

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make them point out where the best gin and purl are to be sold.

In lieu, therefore, of such incongruous marks of public respect, I perceive that a far better mode has been adopted for some years past-I mean that of giv ing the names of eminent characters to new streets, squares, or places, as they are politely called. In this way, the memory of departed worth is likely to be perpetuated to the latest posterity; as the name, thus honoured, must not only appear at the corners of such streets, but be inserted in deeds and leases (things, I am sorry to say, that are likely to last longer than some of our new houses); and thus posterity, if possessed of any curiosity, may learn the history of the distinguished characters, who, by this contrivance, are made to give themselves "a local habitation and a name."

On looking over the topography of London, I perceive that already a very considerable part of the new buildings have been dedicated to the memory of our gallant heroes. I discover three Nelson Streets, seven Nelson Places, one Nelson Square, and sundry Nelson Courts and Passages; and, as the latter are generally the habitations of the lower classes, their sons are early reminded that that gallant and exalted hero was once an unprovided youth, sent to sea with as little interest as themselves, and became the founder of a name that will never perish. But that his memory may be yet more dear, and the glorious circumstances of his death more frequently revived, I find, among our new buildings, no less than four Trafalgar Places, three Trafalgar Streets, a Trafalgar Buildings, a Trafalgar Row, a Trafalgar Terrace, and a Trafalgar Square.

Nor has the gallant Lord Duncan been unnoticed in these habitable monuments. We have two Duncan Places, a Duncan Street, and a Duncan Terrace. Lord Howe I find unnoticed in this way; not surely

from

from want of respect to his merit, but, I presume, because this mode of commemoration was not fashionable when he atchieved his glorious victory of the 1st of June. Lord St. Vincent, however, has not been overlooked, and has all the honours of Vincent Row and Vincent Street. Our more recent and much-lamented hero, Lord Collingwood, already gives a name to two places and three streets.

In the case of Lord Howe, I have endeavoured to account for the neglect of his name. The truth is, that the rage for building, which commenced during the peace, was interrupted by the war; and, after some years, again revived by the influx of foreigners to the kingdom and metropolis. I can trace the practice of naming streets from heroes as far back as the peace of 1783, which gave us two Rodney Streets, a Rodney's Buildings, a Rodney's Court, and a Rodney's Row.

Statesmen have not in general been so fortunate; owing, perhaps, to that difference of opinion which prevails with respect to their merit, and which must make a builder hesitate before he gives a name to a street which may not happen to suit the principles of his tenants. We have, however, a few Pitt Streets and Pitt Places, inhabited, no doubt, by persons who' thought well of his measures. Of living characters I shall not speak. Further time will, no doubt, be necessary to confirm their fame, before they arrive at the honour of being perpetuated in the topography of London. Yet I cannot suppress that Lord Sidmouth has a street and a place, and Mr. Perceval has à street in the vicinity of Clerkenwell.

I am, Sir, yours,

A STREET WALKER.

IMPROMPTU,

TE

ON THE REPORT

( 119 )

IMPROMPTU,

THAT HIS MAJESTY SAW MR..

PERCEVAL WHEN HE TURNED HIS BACK."

[From the Morning Herald, Feb. 1.]

HE people have heard, with delight and surprise,
That his Minister's conduct has op'd the K-'s eyes;
That with just indignation his royal breast burn'd,
When he thought he saw Per- -I's back on him turu'd;
Exclaiming "Thank God! I've recover'd my sight,
For I now see you, Sir, in your own proper light !"

A WEEPING ORATOR.

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I

SIR,

CONGRATULATE the country on a late exhibition of eloquence in a certain august Assembly, which was by many thought incompatible with the British temperament, and which is certainly, in a great measure, new to these islands.

Dr. Adam Smith, in his Theory of Moral Sentiments, mentioning the different nature of Ancient and British Eloquence, states, that it is evident from Cicero's speeches, that he must have frequently wept while he delivered them. The inhabitants of this, country are not yet ripe, he continues, for such a species of eloquence; but when they shall have attained a state of refinement, something like that of their continental neighbours, it may then be successfully introduced. As an illustration of the difference of charac-, ter between the British and the people of the continent, he says, that an Italian will weep and cry bitterly for the loss of a few shillings, while an Englishman will frequently hear his sentence of death pronounced, without altering a single feature.

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