. The dawn of the XIXth century in England, a social sketch of the times. dditional 100 miles. London, at this time, was not beautiful. Apart from thepublic buildings, its 160,000 houses (the number estimatedin 1804) were not lovely to look upon. Utilitarian theywere, to a degree—long rows of brick-built tenements, withoblong holes for windows. There was no attempt at archi-tecture : that had gone out with the first George ; and,during the first half of this ccntur), domestic architecturein this country was at its lowest possible ebb. Just fancy!in the first decade, Baker Street was considered
. The dawn of the XIXth century in England, a social sketch of the times. dditional 100 miles. London, at this time, was not beautiful. Apart from thepublic buildings, its 160,000 houses (the number estimatedin 1804) were not lovely to look upon. Utilitarian theywere, to a degree—long rows of brick-built tenements, withoblong holes for windows. There was no attempt at archi-tecture : that had gone out with the first George ; and,during the first half of this ccntur), domestic architecturein this country was at its lowest possible ebb. Just fancy!in the first decade, Baker Street was considered perhapsthe handsomest street in London, Can condemnation gofurther ? All the houses were the same pattern, variedonly by the height of the rooms, and the number of stories,which were mostly three, and very rarely exceeded was the front parUjur, and the back parlour, awretched narrow passage, or hall, with a flight of stairsleading to the drawing-rooms. In the basement were thekitciien and scullery. The inside, even, was not redeemed by beautiful furniture. 234 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. The rich, of course, furnished sumptuously, after theirhghts — which, at that time, represented anything ofclassical Greek, or Roman, shape—no matter whethersuitable to the purpose for which it was employed, or course, as now, those lower in the social scale, aped, asfar as they could, the tastes of the upper classes ; and, asthey could not afford the sumptuous gilding, and carving,of the rich, the ordinary furniture of that time was heavy,dull, and dispiriting. Take, for example, the accompanyingpicture, where, from the style of dress of the ladies, we canbut draw one inference—that they were in a good socialposition. The furniture is dull, and heavy ; stiff, high-backed chairs; a table, which would now only be allowed inthe nursery ; but one candle, and that with a cotton wick,needing snuffing! A tall, narrow, and tasteless mantelpieceframes a poor, starved stove of sem
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectgreatbr, bookyear1890
