Your Majesty who is a Lover of noble Buildings, Gardens, Pictures, and all Royal Magnificences, must needs desire to be freed from this prodigious annoyance; and, which is so great an Enemy to their Lustre and Beauty, that where it once enters there can nothing remain long in its native Splendor and Perfection....  I cannot but greatly apprehend, that Your Majesty (who has been so long accustom'd to the excellent Aer of other Countries) may be as much offended at it, in that regard also; especially since the Evil is so Epidemicall; indangering as well the Health of Your Subjects, as it sullies the Glory of this Your Imperial Seat.

Sir, I prepare in this short Discourse, an expedient how this pernicious Nuisance may be reformed; and offer at another also, by which the Aer may not only be freed from the present Inconveniency; but (that remov'd) to render not only Your Majesties Palace, but the whole City likewise, one of the sweetest, and most delicious Habitations in the World; and this, with little or no expence; but by improving those Plantations which Your Majesty so laudably affects, in the moyst, depressed and Marshy Grounds about the Town, to the Culture and production of such things, as upon every gentle emission through the Aer, should so perfume the adjacent places with their breath; as if, by a certain charm, or innocent Magick, they were transferred to that part of Arabia, which is therefore styl'd the Happy, because it is amongst the Gums and precious spices.  Those who take notice of the Sent of the Orange-flowers from the Rivage of Genöa, and St. Pietro dell' Arena; the Blossomes of the Rosemary from the Coasts of Spain many Leagues off at Sea; or the manifest and odoriferous wafts which flow from Fontenay and Vaugirard, even to Paris in the season of Roses, with the contrary Effects of those less pleasing smells from other accidents, will easily consent to what I suggest:  And, I am able to enumerate a Catalogue of native Plants, and such as are familiar to our Country and Clime, whose redolent and agreeable Emissions would even ravish our senses, as well as perfectly improve and meliorate the Aer about London; and that, without the least prejudice to the Owners and Proprietors of the Land to be employ'd about it....

SIR,

Your Majesties ever Loyal, most obedient

Subject, and Servant.

J. EVELYN.

...I have, I confesse, been frequently displeased at the small advance and improvement of Publick Works in this Nation, wherein it seems to be much inferiour to the Countries and Kingdomes which are round about it; especially, during these late years of our sad Confusions:  But now that God has miraculously restor'd to us our Prince, a Prince of so magnanimous and Publick a Spirit, we may promise our selves not only a recovery of our former Splendor; but also whatever any of our Neighbours enjoy of more universal benefit, for Health or Ornament:  In summe, whatever may do honour to a Nation so perfectly capable of all advantages.

It is in order to this, that I have presumed to offer these few Proposals for the meliorating and refining the Aer of London; being extremely amaz'd, that where there is so great an affluence of all things which may render the People of this vast City, the most happy upon Earth; the sordid and accursed Avarice of some few Particular Persons, should be suffered to prejudice the health and felicity of so many:  That any Profit (besides what is of absolute necessity) should render men regardlesse of what chiefly imports them, when it may be purchased upon so easie conditions, and with so great advantages:  For it is not happiness to possesse Gold, but to enjoy the Effects of it, and to know how to live cheerfully and in health....  That men whose every Being is Aer, should not breath it freely when they may; but ... condemn themselves to this misery & Fumo præfocari [choking smoke], is strange stupidity:  yet thus we see them walk and converse in London, pursu'd and haunted by that infernal Smoake, and the funest [lamentable] accidents which accompany it wheresoever they retire.

That this Glorious and Antient City, which from Wood might be rendred Brick, and (like another Rome) from Brick made Stone and Marble; which commands the Proud Ocean to the Indies, and reaches the farthest Antipodes, should wrap her stately head in Clowds of Smoake and Sulphur, so full of Stink and Darknesse, I deplore with just Indignation.  That the Buildings should be compos'd of such a Congestion of mishapen and extravagant Houses; That the Streets should be so narrow and incommodious in the very Center, and busiest places of Intercourse:  That there should be so ill and uneasie a form of Paving under foot, so troublesome and malicious a disposure of the Spouts and Gutters overhead, are particulars worthy of Reproof and Reformation; because it is hereby rendred a Labyrinth in its principal passages, and a continual Wet-day after the storm is over....  But I see the Dawning of a brighter Day approach; We have a Prince who is Resolv'd to be a Father to his Country; and a Parliament whose Decrees and Resentiments take their Impression from his Majesties great Genius, which studies only the Publick Good.  It is from them therefore, that we Augure our future happinesse; since there is nothing which will so much perpetuate their Memories, or more justly merit it....

1. May. 1661.

Farewell.

 
 

PART I.

 It is not without some considerable Analogy, that sundry of the Philosophers have nam'd the Aer the Vehicle of the Soul, as well as that of the Earth, and this frail Vessell of ours which contains it; since we all of us finde the benefit which we derive from it, not onely for the necessity of common Respiration and functions of the Organs; but likewise for the use of the Spirits and Primigene Humors, which doe most neerly approach that Divine particle....

[F]or distinction sake, we may yet be allow'd to repute some Aers pure, comparatively, viz. That which is cleare, open, sweetely ventilated and put into motion with gentle gales and breezes; not too sharp, but of a temperate constitution.  In a word, That we pronounce for good and pure Aer, which heats not to sweat and faintnesse; nor cooles to rigidnesse and trembling; nor dries to wrinkles and hardnesse; nor moystens to resolution and over-much softnesse....

Let it be farther consider'd, what is most evident, That the Body feedes upon Meats commonly but at certain periods and slated times, be it twice a day or oftner; whereas, upon the Aer, or what accompanies it ... it is alwaies preying, sleeping or waking; and therefore, doubtlesse, the election of this constant and assiduous Food, should something concerne us; I affirme, more than even the very Meat we eat, whereof so little and indifferent nourishes and satisfies the most temperate and best Educated persons.  Besides, Aer that is corrupt insinuates it self into the vital parts immediately; whereas the meats we take, though never so ill condition'd, require time for the concoction, by which its effects are greatly mitigated; whereas the other, passing so speedily to the Lungs, and virtually to the Heart itself, is deriv'd and communicated over the whole masse; In a word, as the Lucid and noble Aer, clarifies the Blood, subtilizes it and excites it, cheering the Spirits and promoting digestion; so the dark, and grosse (on the Contrary) perturbs the Body, prohibits necessary Transpiration for the resolution and dissipation of ill Vapours, even to disturbance of the very Rational faculties, which the purer Aers does so far illuminate, as to have rendered some Men healthy and wise, even to Miracle.  And therefore the Empoysoning of Aer, was ever esteem'd no lesse fatall than the poysoning of Water or Meate it self, and forborn even amongst Barbarians....

From these, or the like considerations therefore, it might well proceed, that Vitruvius, and the rest who follow that Master-Builder, mention it as a Principle, for the accomplishment of their Architect, that being skilfull in the Art of Physick, amongst other Observations, he sedulously examine the Aer and Situation of the places where he designs to build, the Inclinations of the Heavens, and the Climats ... there is no dwelling can be safe or healthy without it....

Now whether those who were the Antient Founders of our goodly Metropolis, had considered these particulars (though long before Vitruvius) I can no waies doubt or make question of; since having respect to the nobleness of the situation of London, we shall every way finde it to have been consulted with all imaginable Advantages, not onely in relation to Profit, but to Health and Pleasure; and that, if there be any thing which seems to impeach the two last Transcendencies, it will be found to be but something Extrinsecal and Accidental onely, which naturally does not concern the Place at all; but, which may very easily be reformed, without any the least inconvenience, as in due time we shall come to demonstrate.

For first, the City of London is built upon a sweet and most agreeable Eminency of Ground, at the North-side of a goodly and well-conditioned River, towards which it hath an Aspect by a gentle and easie declivity, apt to be improv'd to all that may render her Palaces, Buildings, and Avenues usefull, gracefull and most magnificent:  The Fumes which exhale from the Waters and lower Grounds lying South-ward, by which means they are perpetually attracted, carried off or dissipated by the Sun, as soon as they are born, and ascend.

Adde to this, that the Soil is universally Gravell, not onely where the City it self is placed; but for severall Miles about the Countreys which environ it:  That it is plentifully and richly irrigated, and visited with Waters which Christalize her Fountains in every Street, and may be conducted to them in such farther plenty, as Rome her self might not more abound in this liquid ornament, for the pleasure and divertisement, as well as for the use and refreshment of her Inhabitants....

[London] is to be reliev'd from that which renders her less healthy, really offends her, and which darkens and eclipses all her other Attributes.  And what is all this, but that Hellish and dismall Cloud of SEA-COAL? which is not onely perpetually imminent over her head ... but so universally mixed with the otherwise wholesome and excellent Aer, that her Inhabitants breathe nothing but an impure and thick Mist, accompanied with a fuliginous [deadly] and filthy vapour, which renders them obnoxious to a thousand inconveniences, corrupting the Lungs, and disordering the entire habit of their Bodies; so that Catharrs, Phthisicks, Coughs and Consumptions rage more in this one City, than in the whole Earth besides....

[T]his is certain, that of all the common and familiar materials which emit it, the immoderate use of, and indulgence to Sea-coale alone in the City of London, exposes it to one of the fowlest Inconveniencies and reproaches, that possibly befall so noble, and otherwise incomparable City:  And that, not from the Culinary fires, which for being weak, and lesse often fed below, is with such ease dispell'd and scatter'd above, as it is hardly at all discernible, but from some few particular Tunnells and Issues, belonging only to Brewers, Diers, Lime-burners, Salt, and Sope-boylers, and some other private Trades, One of whose Spiracles [air vents] alone, does manifestly infect the Aer, more, than all the Chimnies of London put together besides.  And that this is not the least Hyperbolie, let the best of Judges decide it, which I take to be our senses:  Whilst these are belching it forth their sooty jaws, the City of London resembles the face rather of Mount Ætna, the Court of Vulcan, Stromboli, or the Suburbs of Hell, then an Assembly of Rational Creatures, and the Imperial seat of our incomparable Monarch.  For when in all other places the Aer is most Serene and Pure, it is here Ecclipsed with such a Cloud of Sulphure, as the Sun it self, which gives day to all the World besides, is hardly able to penetrate and impart it here; and the weary Traveller, at many Miles distance, sooner smells, then sees the City to which he repairs.  This is that pernicious Smoake which sullyes all her Glory, superinducing a sooty Crust or furr upon all that it lights, spoyling the moveables, tarnishing the Plate, Gildings and Furniture, and corroding the very Iron-bars and hardest stones with those piercing and acrimonious Spirits which accompany its Sulphure; and executing more in one year, then expos'd to the pure Aer of the Country it could effect in some hundreds....

It is this horrid Smoake which obscures our Churches, and makes our Palaces look old, which fouls our Clothes, and corrupts the Waters, so as the very Rain, and refreshing Dews which fall in the several Seasons, precipitate this impure vapour, which, with its black and tenacious quality, spots and contaminates whatever is expos'd to it....

It is this which scatters and strews about those black and smutty Atomes upon all things where it comes, insinuating it self into our very secret Cabinets, and most precious Repositories:  Finally, it is this which diffuses and spreads a Yellownesse upon our choycest Pictures and Hangings:  which does this mischief at home; is Avernus [Lake Avernus, known for its poisonous water, located near Naples, Italy] to Fowl, and kills our Bees and Flowers abroad, suffering nothing in our Gardens to bud, display themselves, or ripen; so as our Anemonies and many other choycest Flowers, will by no Industry be made to blow in London, or the Precincts of it, unlesse they be raised on a Hot-bed, and govern'd with extraordinary Artifice to accellerate their springing, imparting a bitter and ungrateful Tast to those few wretched Fruits, which never arriving to their desired maturity, seem, like the Apples of Sodome, to fall even to dust, when they are but touch'd.  Not therefore to be forgotten, is that which was by many observ'd, that in the year when New-castle was besieg'd and blocked up in our late Wars, so as through the great Dearth and Scarcity of Coales, those fumous Works many of them were either left off, or spent but few Coales in comparison to what they now use:  Divers Gardens and Orchards planted even in the very heart of London, (as in particular my Lord Marquesse of Herrfords in the Strand, my Lord Bridgewaters, and some others about Barbican) were observed to bear such plentiful and infinite quantities of Fruits, as they never produced the like either before or since, to their great astonishment:  but it was by the Owners rightly imputed to the penury of Coales, and the little Smoake, which they took notice to infest them that year:  For there is a virtue in the Aer, to penetrate, alter, nourish, yea and to multiply Plants and Fruits, without which no vegetable could possibly thrive....

So as it was not ill said by Paracelsus [Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, Swiss healer and chemist; 1490-1541], that of all things, Aer only could be truly affirmed to have Life, seeing to all things it gave Life.  Argument sufficient to demonstrate, how prejudicial it is to the Bodies of Men; for that can never be Aer fit for them to breath in, where nor Fruits, nor Flowers do ripen, or come to a seasonable perfection.

I have strangely wondred, and not without some just indignation, when the South-wind has been gently breathing, to have sometimes beheld that stately House and Garden belonging to my Lord of Northumberland, even as far as White-hall and Westminster, wrapped in a horrid Cloud of this Smoake, issuing from a Brew-house or two contiguous to that noble Palace:  so as coming up the River, that part of the City has appear'd a Sea where no Land was within ken; the same frequently happens from a Lime-kelne on the Banke-side neer the Falcon, which when the Wind blowes Southern, dilates it self all over that Poynt of the Thames, and the opposite part of London, especially about S. Paul's, poysoning the Aer with so dark and thick a Fog, as I have been hardly able to pass through it, for the extraordinary stench and halitus it sends forth; and the like is neer Fox-hall at the farther end of Lambeth....

There is, I confesse, a certain Idiosyncrasia in the Composition of some persons, which may fit and dispose them to thrive better in some Aers, then in other:  But, it is manifest, that those who repair to London, no sooner enter into it, but they find a universal alteration in their Bodies, which are either dryed up or enflam'd, the hunours being exasperated and made apt to putrifie, their sensories and perspiration so exceedingly stopp'd, with the losse of Appetite, and a kind of general stupefaction, succeeded with such Cathars and Distillations, as do never, or very rarely quit them, without some further Symptomes of dangerous Inconveniency so long as they abide in the place; which yet are immediately restored to their former habit, so soon as they are retired to their Homes and enjoy the fresh Aer again.  And here I may not omit to mention what a most Learned Physician and one of the Colledge, assur'd me, as I remember of a Friend of his, who had so strange an Antipathy to the Aer of London; that though he were a Merchant, and had frequent businesse in the City, was yet constrained to make his Dwelling some miles without it; and when he came to the Exchange, within an hour or two, grew so extremely indispos'd, that (as if out of his proper Element) he was forced to take horse (which us'd therefore constantly to attend him at the Entrance) and ride as for his Life, till he came into the Fields, and was returning home again....  For Diseases proceed not from so long a Series of causes, as we are apt to conceive; but, most times from those obvious, and despicable mischiefs, which yet we take lesse notice of, because they are familiar:  But how frequently do we hear men say (speaking of some deceased Neighbour or Friend) He went up to London, and took a great Cold, &c. which he could never afterwards claw off again.

I report my self to all those who (during these sad confusions) have been compelled to breath the Aer of other Countries for some years; if they do not now perceive a manifest alteration in their Appetite, and clearnesse of their Spirits; especially such as have liv'd long in France, and the City of Paris; where, to take off that unjust reproach, the Plague as seldome domineers, as in any part of Europe, which I more impute to the Serenity and Purity of the Aer about it, then to any other qualities which are frequently assign'd for the cause of it by divers Writers.  But if it be objected that the purest Aers are soonest infected; it is answered, that they are also the soonest freed again; and that none would therefore choose to live in a corrupt Aer, because of this Article:  London, 'tis confess'd, is not the only City most obnoxious to the Pestilence; but it is yet never clear of this Smoake which is a Plague so many other ways, and indeed intolerable; because it kills not at once, but always; since still to languish, is worse then even Death it self.  For is there under Heaven such Coughing and Snuffing to be heard, as in London Churches and Assemblies of People, where the Barking and the Spitting is uncessant and most importunate.  What shall I say?....

And what may be the cause of these troublesome effects, but the inspiration of this infernal vapour, accompanying the Aer, which first heats and sollicits the Aspera Arteria, through one of whose Conduits... it enters by several branches into the very Parenchyma, and substance of the Lungs, violating, in this passage, the Larynx and Epiglottis, together with those multiform and curious Muscles, the immediate and proper Instruments of the Voyce, which becoming rough and drye, can neither be contracted, or dilated for the due modulation of the Voyce; so as by some of my Friends (studious in Musick, and whereof one is a Doctor of Physick) it has been constantly observ'd, that coming out of the Country into London, they lost Three whole Notes, in the compasse of their Voice, which they never recover'd again till their retreat....

Whether the Head and the Brain (as some have imagined) take in the ambient Aer, nay the very Arteries through the skin universally over the whole body, is greatly controverted; But if so, of what consequence the goodnesse and purity of the Aer is, will to every one appear....  But this is not all.

What if there appear to be an Arsenical vapour, as well as Sulphur, breathing sometimes from this intemperate use of Sea-Cole, in great Cities?  That there is, what does plainly stupifie, is evident to those who sit long by it; and that which fortun'd to the Dutchmen who Winter'd in Nova Zembla, was by all Physicians attributed to such a deleterious quality in the like fuell, as well as to the Inspissation [condensation] of the Aer, which they thought only to have attemper'd as is by most esteem'd to be the reason of the same dangerous halitus of Char-Cole, not fully enkendl'd.  But to come neerer yet.

New Castle Cole, as an expert Physician affirms, causeth Consumptions, Phthisicks, and the Indisposition of the Lungs, not only by the suffocating aboundance of Smoake; but also by its Virulency:  For all subterrany Fuell hath a kind of virulent or Arsenical vapour rising from it; which, as it speedily destroys those who dig it in the Mines; so does it by little and little, those who use it here above them:  Therefore those Diseases (saith this Doctor) most afflict about London, where the very Iron is sooner consum'd by the Smoake thereof, then where this Fire is not used.

And, if indeed there be such a Venemous quality latent, and sometimes breathing from this Fuell, we are lesse to trouble our selves for the finding out of the Cause of those Pestilential and Epidemical Sicknesses ... which at divers periods, have so terribly infested and wasted us:  or, that it should be so susceptible of infection, all manner of Diseases having so universal a vehicle as is that of the Smoake, which perpetually invests this City:  But this is also noted by the Learned Sir Kenelme Digby [English naval commander, author, and self-styled philosopher; 1603-1665], in confirmation of the Doctrine of Atomical Effluvia's and Emanations, wafted, mixed and communicated by the Aer, where he well observes, that from the Materials of our London Fires, there results a great quantity of volatile Salts, which being very sharp and dissipated by the Smoake doth infect the Aer, and so incorporate with it, that, though the very Bodies of those corrosive particles escape our perception, yet we soon find their effects, by the destruction which they induce upon all things that they do but touch; spoyling, and destroying their beautiful colours, with their fuliginous qualities:  Yea, though a Chamber be never so closely locked up, Men find at their return, all things that are in it, even covered with a black thin Soot, and all the rest of the Furniture as full of it, as if it were in the house of some Miller, or a Bakers Shop, where the Flower gets into their Cupboards, and Boxes, though never so close and accurately shut.

This Coale, says Sir K. flies abroad, fowling the Clothes that are expos'd a drying upon the Hedges; and in the Spring-time (as but now we mention'd) besoots all the Leaves, so as there is nothing free from its universal contamination, and it is for this, that the Bleachers about Harlem, prohibit by an express Law (as I am told) the use of these Coles, for some Miles about that Town; and how curious the Diers and Weavers of Dammask, and other precious Silks are at Florence, of the least ingresse of any Smoaky vapour, whilst their Loomes are at work, I shall shew upon some other occasion:  But in the mean time being thus incorporated with the very Aer, which ministers to the necessary respiration of our Lungs, the Inhabitants of London, and such as frequent it, find it in all their Expectorations; the Spittle, and other excrements which proceed from them, being for the most part of a blackish and fuliginous Colour:  Besides this acrimonious Soot produces another sad effect, by rendring the people obnoxious to Inflammations, and comes (in time) to exulcerate the Lungs, which is a mischief so incurable, that it carries away multitudes by Languishing and deep Consumptions, as the Bills of Mortality do Weekly inform us.  And these are those Endemii Morbi, vernaculous and proper to London.  So corrosive is this Smoake about the City, that if one would hang up Gammons of Bacon, Beefe, or other Flesh to fume, and prepare it in the Chimnies, as the good House-Wifes do in the Country, where they make use of sweeter Fuell, it will so Mummifie, drye up, wast and burn it, that it suddainly crumbles away, consumes and comes to nothing.

The Consequences then of all this is, that (as was said) almost one half of them who perish in London, dye of Phthisical and pulmonic distempers; That the Inhabitants are never free from Coughs and importunate Rheumatisms, spitting of Impostumated and corrupt matter:  for remedy whereof, there is none so infallible, as that, in time, the Patient change his Aer, and remove into the Country:  Such as repair to Paris (where it is excellent) and other like Places, perfectly recovering of their health; which is a demonstration sufficient to confirm what we have asserted, concerning the perniciousnesse of that about this City, produc'd only, from this crucial and intolerable Accident.

But I hear it now objected by some, that in publishing this Invective against the Smoake of London, I hazard the engaging of a whole Faculty against me, and particularly, that the Colledge of Physicians esteem it rather a preservation against Infections, then otherwise any cause of the sad effects which I have enumerated.  But, as I have upon several encounters, found the most able, and Learned amongst them, to renounce this opinion, and heartily wish for a universal purgation of the Aer by the expedients I propose; so, I cannot believe that any of that Learned Society, should think themselves so far concerned, as to be offended with me for that, which (as well as for their sakes, as the rest who derive benefit from it) I wish were at farther distance; since it is certain, that so many of their Patients are driven away from the City, upon the least indisposition which attaques them, on this sole consideration; as esteeming it lesse dangerous to put themselves into the hands of some Country Doctor or Emperic, then to abide the Aer of London, with all its other advantages.  For the rest, that pretend to that honourable Profession; if any shall find themselves agreev'd and think good to contend, I shall easily allow him as much Smoake as he desires, and much good may it do him.  But, it is to be suspected, and the answer is made (by as many [as] have ever suggested the Objection to me) That there be some whom I must expect to plead for that, which makes so much work for the Chimny-Sweeper....

But to proceed, I do farther affirm, that it is not the dust and Ordure which is daily cast out of their Houses, much lesse what is brought in by the Feet of Men and Horses; or the want of more frequent and better conveyances, which renders the Streets of London dirty even to a Proverb:  but chiefly this continual Smoake, which ascending in the day-time, is, by the descending Dew, and Cold, precipitated again at night:  And this is manifest, if a peice of clean Linnen be spread all Night in any Court or Garden, the least infested as to appearance:  but especially if it happen to rain, which carries it down in greater proportion, not only upon the Earth, but upon the Water also, where it leaves a thin Web, or pellicule of dust, dancing upon the Surface of it; as those who go to bathe in the Thames (though at some Miles distant from the City) do easily discern and bring home upon their Bodies:  How it sticks on the Hands, Faces and Linnen of our fair Ladies, and nicer Dames, who reside constantly in London (especially during Winter) the prodigious wast of Almond-powder for the One, Soap and wearing out of the Other, do sufficiently manifest.

Let it be considered what a Fuliginous crust is yearly contracted, and adheres to the Sides of our ordinary Chymnies where this grosse Fuell is used; and then imagine, if there were a solid ... Canopy over London, what a masse of Soote would then stick to it, which now (as was said) comes down every Night in the Streets, on our Houses, the Waters, and is taken into our Bodies....

 

PART II.

We know (as the Proverb commonly speaks) that, as there is no Smoake without Fire; so neither is there hardly any Fire without Smoake, and the ... materials which burn clear are very few....  That to talk of serving this vast City ... with Wood, were madnesse; and yet doubtless it were possible, that much larger proportions of Wood might be brought to London, and sold at easier rates, if that were diligently observed, which both our Laws enjoyn, is faisible and practised in other places more remote, by Planting and preserving of Woods and Copses, and by what might by Sea, be brought out of the Northern Countries, where it so greatly abounds, and seems inexhaustible.  But the Remedy which I would propose, has nothing in it of this difficulty, requiring only the Removal of such Trades, as are manifest Nuisances to the City, which, I would have placed at farther distances; especially, such as in their Works and Fournaces use great quantities of Sea-Cole, the sole and only cause of those prodigious Clouds of Smoake, which so universally and so fatally infest the Aer, and would in no City of Europe be permitted, where Men had either respect to Health or Ornament.  Such we named to be Brewers, Diers, Sope and Salt-boylers, Lime-burners, and the like:  These I affirm, together with some few others of the same Classe removed at competent distance, would produce so considerable (though but partial) a Cure, as Men would even be found to breath a new life as it were, as well as London appear a new City, delivered from that, which alone renders it one of the most pernicious and insupportable abodes in the World, as subjecting her Inhabitants to so infamous an Aer, otherwise sweet and very healthful:  For, (as we said) the Culinary fires (and which charking would greatly reform) contribute little, or nothing in comparison to these foul mouth'd Issues, and Curles of Smoake, which (as the Poet has it) ... draw a sable Curtain over Heaven.  Let any man observe it, upon a Sunday, or such time as these Spiracles cease, that the Fires are generally extinguished, and he shall sensibly conclude, by the clearnesse of the Skie, and universal serenity of the Aer about it, that all the Chimnies in London, do not darken and poyson it so much as one or two of those Tunnels of Smoake; and, that, because the most imperceptible transpirations, which they send forth, are ventilated, and dispersed with the least breath which is stirring:  Whereas the Columns and Clowds of Smoake, which are belched forth from the sooty Throates of those Works, are so thick and plentiful, that rushing out with great impetuosity, they are capable even to resist the fiercest winds, and being extremely surcharg'd with a fuliginous Body, fall down upon the City, before they can be dissipated, as the more thin and weak is; so as two or three of these fumid vortices, are able to whirle it about the whole City, rendring it in a few Moments like the Picture of Troy sacked by the Greeks, or the approaches of Mount-Hecla.

I propose therefore, that by an Act of this present Parliament, this infernal Nuisance be reformed; enjoyning, that all those Works be removed five or six miles distant from London below the River of Thames....

At least by this means Thousands of able Watermen may be employed in bringing Commodities into the City, to certain Magazines & Wharfs, commodiously situated to dispense them by Carrs or other Sleds, into the several parts of the Town; all which may be effected with much facility, and small expense; but, with such Conveniency and Benefit to the Inhabitants otherwise, as were altogether inestimable; and therefore, to be valu'd beyond all other trifling objections of sordid and avaricious persons whatsoever.  Nor, indeed, could there at all the lest detriment ensue upon this Reformation; since the Places and Houses deserted (which commonly take up a great space of Ground) might be converted into Tenements, and some of them into Noble Houses for use and pleasure, respecting the Thames to their no small advantage.  Add to this, that it would be a means to prevent the danger of Fireing, those sad Calamities, for the most part, proceeding from some Accident or other, which takes beginning from places, where such great and exorbitant Fires are perpetually kept going....

That Men should burn, or bury the Dead within the City Walls, was expresly prohibited by a Law ... and truely, I am perswaded, that the frequency of Church-yards, and Charnel-Houses, contamminate the Aer, in many parts of this Town, as well as the Pumps and Waters, which are any thing neer unto them, so that those Pipes and Conveyances which passe through them (obnoxious to many dangerous accidents) ought either to be directed some other way, or very carefully to be looked after.

We might add to these, Chandlers and Butchers, because of those horrid stinks, nidorous and unwholesome smells which proceed from the Tallow, and corrupted Blood:  At least should no Cattel be kill'd within the City (to this day observ'd in the Spanish great Towns of America) since the Flesh and Candles might so easily be brought to the Shambles and Shops from other places lesse remote then the former; by which means also, might be avoided the driving of Cattel through the Streets, which is a very great inconvenience and some danger:  The same might be affirm'd of Fishmongers....  Then for the Butcher....  I could yet wish that our nasty Prisons and Common Gaoles might bear them Company; since I affirm they might all be remov'd to some distant places neer the River, the situation whereof does so invite, and rarely contribute to the effecting of it.  But if the Avarice of the men of this Age be so far deplorable, that we may not hope for so absolute a cure of all that is offensive; at least let such, whose Works are upon the Margent of the Thames, and which are indeed the most intollerable, be banished further off, and not once dare to approach that silver Channel (but at the distance prescrib'd) which glides by her stately Palaces, and irrigates her welcome Banks.

What a new Spirit would these easie Remedies create among the Inhabitants of London? what another Genius infuse in the face of things? and, there is none but observes, and feels in himself the Change which a serene and clear day produces; how heavy and lesse dispos'd to motion, yea, even to good humour and friendly inclinations, we many times find our selves when the Heavens are clowded, and discompos'd? when the South-winds blow, and the humours are fluid, for what we are when the Skie is fair, and the Aer in good temper?  And there is reason, that we, who are compos'd of the Elements, should participate of their qualities:  For as the Humours have their source from the Elements; so have our Passions from the Humours, and the Soul which is united to this Body of ours, cannot but be affected by its Inclinations.  The very dumb creatures themselves being sensible of the alteration of the Aer, though not by ratiocination, yet by many notorious Symptomes.

For I forbear to Philosophise farther upon this Subject, capable of very large and noble reflections; having with my promis'd brevity, endevoured to shew the Inconveniencies and the Remedies of what does so universally offend, and obscure the Glory of this our renowned Metropolis; and which, I hope, may produce some effects towards the reforming of so publick a Nuisance.  At least, let the continual sejourn of our Illustrious CHARLES, who is the very Breath of our Nostrills, in whose health all our happinesse consists, be precious in our Eyes, and make our Noble Patriots now assembled in Parliament, consult for the speedy removal of this universal grievance.

It is certainly of far greater concernment (however light and aery it may appear to some) then the drayning of a Fen, or beautifying an Aqueduct, for which some have received such publick honours, Statues and Inscriptions; and will (if ever any thing did) deserve the like acknowledgements both of the present and future Ages.  You therefore, that have Houses in the City, you that bring up your Wives, and Families from their sweet Habitations in the Country; that Educate your Children here; that have Offices at Court; that study the Laws:  In fine, all that are [enshrouded in smoke] bear a part in this request of mine, which concerns the universal benefit; and the rather, for that having neither Habitation, Office, nor Being in the City, I cannot be suspected to oblige any particular.  The elegant Ladies and nicer Dames; All that are in Health, and would continue so; that are infirm or Convalescent, and would be perfect; that affect the glory of our Court and City, Health or Beauty, are concerned in this Petition; and it will become our wise Senators, and we earnestly expect it, that they would consult as well the State of the Natural, as the Politick Body of this Great Nation, so considerable a part whereof are Inhabitants of this August City; since, without their mutual harmony, and well-being, there can nothing prosper, or arrive to its desired perfection.

 

PART III.

An offer at the Improvement, and Melioration of the Aer of LONDON, by way of Plantations, &c.

THere goes a pleasant Tale of a certain S^r Politick, that in the last great Plague projected, how by a Vessel fraight with peel'd Onions, which should passe along the Thames by the City, when the Wind sate in a favourable quarter, to attract the pollution of the Aer, and sail away with the Infection to the Sea:  Transplantation of Diseases we sometimes read of amongst the Magneticall, or rather Magical Cures; but never before of this way of Transfretation:  but, however this excellent conceit has often afforded good mirth on the Stage, and I now mention to prevent the application to what I here propound; There is yet another expedient, which I have here to offer (were This of the poisonous and filthy smoak remov'd) by which the City and environs about it, might be rendred one of the most pleasant and agreeable places in the world.  In order to this I propose,

That all low-grounds circumjacent to the City, especially East and South-west, be cast and contriv'd into square plots, or Fields of twenty, thirty and forty Akers, or more, separated from each others by Fences of double Palisads, or Contr' spaliers, which should enclose a Plantation of an hundred and fifty, or more, feet deep, about each Field; not much unlike to what His Majesty has already begun by the wall from Old Spring-garden to St. James's in that Park; and is somewhat resembled in the new Spring-garden at Lambeth.  That these Palisad's be elegantly planted, diligently kept and supply'd, with such Shrubs, as yield the most fragrant and odoriferous Flowers, and are aptest to to tinge the Aer upon every gentle emission at a great distance....

That the Fields, and Crofts within these Closures, or Invironing Gardens, be, some of them, planted with wild Thyme, and others reserved for Plots of Beans, Pease (not Cabbages, whose rotten and perishing stalks have a very noisom and unhealthy smell, and therefore by Hyppocrates utterly condemned near great Cities) but such blossom-bearing Grain as send forth their virtue at farthest distance, and are all of them marketable at London; by which means, the Aer and Winds perpetually fann'd from so many circling and encompassing Hedges, fragrant Shrubs, Trees, and Flowers (the amputation and prunings of whose superfluties, may in Winter, on some occasions of weather, and winds, be burnt, to visit the City with a more benign smoak) not onely all that did approach the Region, which is properly design'd to be Flowery; but even the whole City, would be sensible of the sweet and ravishing varieties of the perfumes, as well as of the most delightful and pleasant objects, and places of Recreation for the Inhabitants; yielding also a Prospect of a noble and masculine Majesty, by reason of the frequent plantations of Trees, and Nurseries for Ornament, Profit, and Security....

That, to this end, the Gardiners (which now cultivate the upper, more drie and ungrateful soil) be encouraged to begin Plantations in such places onely:  and the farther exorbitant encrease of Tenements, poor and nasty Cottages near the City, be prohibited, which disgrace and take off from the sweetness and amoenity of the Environs of London, and are already become a great Eye-sore in the grounds opposite to His Majesty's Palace of White hall; which being converted to this use, might yield a diversion inferior to none that could be imagin'd for Health, Profit, and Beauty, which are the three Transcendencies that render a place without all exception.  And this is what (in short) I had to offer, for the Improvement and Melioration of the Aer about London, and with which I shall conclude this discourse.