Travels in England in 1782 | Page 8

middle, and
drawing to a point at the feet, not very unlike the case of a violin.
A few dirty-looking men, who bear the coffin, endeavour to make their
way through the crowd as well as they can; and some mourners follow.
The people seem to pay as little attention to such a procession, as if a
hay-cart were driving past. The funerals of people of distinction, and of
the great, are, however, differently regarded.
These funerals always appear to me the more indecent in a populous
city, from the total indifference of the beholders, and the perfect
unconcern with which they are beheld. The body of a fellow-creature is
carried to his long home as though it had been utterly unconnected with
the rest of mankind. And yet, in a small town or village, everyone
knows everyone; and no one can be so insignificant as not to be missed
when he is taken away.
That same influenza which I left at Berlin, I have had the hard fortune
again to find here; and many people die of it. It is as yet very cold for
the time of the year, and I am obliged every day to have a fire. I must
own that the heat or warmth given by sea-coal, burnt in the chimney,
appears to me softer and milder than that given by our stoves. The sight
of the fire has also a cheerful and pleasing effect. Only you must take
care not to look at it steadily, and for a continuance, for this is probably
the reason that there are so many young old men in England, who walk
and ride in the public streets with their spectacles on; thus anticipating,
in the bloom of youth, those conveniences and comforts which were
intended for old age.
I now constantly dine in my own lodgings; and I cannot but flatter
myself that my meals are regulated with frugality. My usual dish at
supper is some pickled salmon, which you eat in the liquor in which it
is pickled, along with some oil and vinegar; and he must be prejudiced
or fastidious who does not relish it as singularly well tasted and grateful
food.
I would always advise those who wish to drink coffee in England, to
mention beforehand how many cups are to be made with half an ounce;
or else the people will probably bring them a prodigious quantity of

brown water; which (notwithstanding all my admonitions) I have not
yet been able wholly to avoid. The fine wheaten bread which I find
here, besides excellent butter and Cheshire-cheese, makes up for my
scanty dinners. For an English dinner, to such lodgers as I am,
generally consists of a piece of half-boiled, or half-roasted meat; and a
few cabbage leaves boiled in plain water; on which they pour a sauce
made of flour and butter. This, I assure you, is the usual method of
dressing vegetables in England.
The slices of bread and butter, which they give you with your tea, are
as thin as poppy leaves. But there is another kind of bread and butter
usually eaten with tea, which is toasted by the fire, and is incomparably
good. You take one slice after the other and hold it to the fire on a fork
till the butter is melted, so that it penetrates a number of slices at once:
this is called toast.
The custom of sleeping without a feather-bed for a covering
particularly pleased me. You here lie between two sheets: underneath
the bottom sheet is a fine blanket, which, without oppressing you,
keeps you sufficiently warm. My shoes are not cleaned in the house,
but by a person in the neighbourhood, whose trade it is; who fetches
them every morning, and brings them back cleaned; for which she
receives weekly so much. When the maid is displeased with me, I hear
her sometimes at the door call me "the German"; otherwise in the
family I go by the name of "the Gentleman."
I have almost entirely laid aside riding in a coach, although it does not
cost near so much as it does at Berlin; as I can go and return any
distance not exceeding an English mile for a shilling, for which I
should there at least pay a florin. But, moderate as English fares are,
still you save a great deal, if you walk or go on foot, and know only
how to ask your way. From my lodging to the Royal Exchange is about
as far as from one end of Berlin to the other, and from the Tower and St.
Catharine's, where the ships arrive in the Thames, as far again; and I
have already walked this distance twice, when I went to look after my
trunk before I