Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London during the Eighteenth Century; Vol. 2 (of 2) Including the Charities, Depravities, Dresses, and Amusements etc.

"Before I leave you in your Houses (where your estates are managed by your servants, and your persons educated by your Wives), I will take a short survey of your Children: to wh...

The extreme richness of the habits of those days were accompanied by equal extravagance in the furniture of Beds, advertised as stolen 1715, and thus described: "Four Curtains o...

It was about this time that the taste of the Town became vitiated: one remarkable instance I cannot forget. In January 1717 some dancers arrived from France, and with them one S...

"Thursday, October the 15th, just before three in the afternoon, he went to work, taking off first his handcuffs; next with main strength he twisted a small iron link of the cha...

"The determined resolution of Messrs. Rutherford and Harris to rescind the article respecting the management, appears in the above notice, wherein they assume, contrary to the l...

These Juries omitted noticing a most barbarous _amusement_ which prevailed to great excess, as will appear by the ensuing advertisements issued in the same year: "At the Royal C...

"When I attacked them backwards, I used to crawl out of the window on my belly, and lie upon the wash-house leads with my arms; I have heard them say, "You that have arms are to...

Fortunately for Handel the publick were pleased with the performance of his Alexander's Feast at Covent-garden Theatre soon after his return; and, to add to his good fortune, he...

The following advertisement appeared at the same time: "Mr. Rich and others having petitioned her Majesty against an order for silencing of acting Plays, Operas, &c. under the p...

"So far from injuring you in the point you complain of, I solemnly declare that I sincerely wished you success in your 'Duellist,' as I do every person who undertakes the arduou...

The year 1785 produced the agitation of a singular problem, which has never yet been solved. While an actor of abilities performs upon the two Stages of Drury-lane and Covent-ga...

When a Londoner of the lowest class receives his employer's permission to relax from the labours of his profession, he endeavours to obtain the company of several of his acquain...

"Long was the great Figg by the prize-fighting swains Sole monarch acknowledg'd of Mary-bon plains; To the towns far and near did his valour extend, And swam down the river from...

It is one of the singularities attendant on the present system of Theatrical amusements, that certain actors performing under a patent are gentlemen and ladies of merit, respect...

The author of "Historical Remarks on Dress," published in 1761 by Jefferies, asserts, that party-coloured Coats were first worn in England in the time of Henry I.; Chaplets, or...

This description of Female dress altered by _degrees_ to the present fashion: the Head insensibly lowered; the horse-hair gave place to large natural curls spread over the face...

One of the amusements of 1718 was the juggling exhibition of a fire-eater, whose name was De Hightrehight, a native of the valley of Annivi in the Alps. This tremendous person a...

The reader who _admires_ adulteration may find enough of it thus noticed in the London Chronicle, June 2, 1764. This article evinces that I am not the first person who has repro...

"Your Petitioner thinks it his duty to lay before your Majesty, with great humility, a short account of the unprovoked and outrageous murder committed by a Scotch officer, and t...

February in the following year produced another description of outrage; and, as the mob arranged themselves on the side of Liberty in the above instance, they determined in the...

The audience of Covent-garden Theatre seized the first opportunity of demanding that full prices should no longer be insisted upon for half plays and the farce, except when new...

"Attend, my Sons, and you, my friends, draw near, And on my last remain bestow a tear; Your dear, dear _Punch_, must yield his nect'rous breath, And ere to-morrow noon submit to...

"Lastly, the Pope, in a glorious pageant or chair of state, covered with scarlet; the chair being richly embroidered and bedecked with golden balls and crosses. At his feet was...

Transcriber's Notes: Words in italics in the original are surrounded by _underscores_. A row of asterisks represents a thought break. A complete list of corrections as well as o...

The assertion in the latter line however is not true, as a handsome subscription was made to enable the disappointed Comedians to return in comfort to France, which amounted to...

The use of apostrophes to indicate possessive case is not consistent in the original. The placement of quotation marks is not consistent in the original. Apostrophes and quotati...