DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

( 34) London, in the time of Queen Anne, though almost a village compared with the London of to- day, was already characterised by many of the anomalies which we still deplore. The metropolis then consisted of the city of Westminster and Blooms- bury. Houses went down the northern side of Picca- dilly ; Bond Street was only partially built; Hack- ney, Marylebone, Islington, Chelsea, and Kensing- ton, were rural villages. London Bridge was the only bridge across the Thames. Pall Mall was a fashionable promenade, where smock-racing by women might be seen as late as the year 1733. On the present site of Curzon Street May fair was annually celebrated. It lasted six weeks, and did as much to demoralise the neighbourhood, which was infested by thieves, as the passage of the frequent executions which attracted crowds of ruffians. These executions, which were held at Tyburn, near the present site of the Marble Arch, were one of the chief amusements of the mob, they gave rise to revolting practices, and had the most brutalising results. Criminals were driven through the street dressed in their best clothes, some with white gloves and nose- gays. In order to die like a gentleman, as they called it, they fortified themselves with brandy, and often staggered to the gallows in a state of intoxication,