and of some legal proceedings, till, in the reign of George the Second,
Sir Joseph Jekyll, Master of the Rolls, was knocked down and nearly
killed in the middle of the Square. Then at length palisades were set
up, and a pleasant garden laid out. [120]

Saint James's Square was a receptacle for all the offal and cinders,
for all the dead cats and dead dogs of Westminster. At one time a cudgel
player kept the ring there. At another time an impudent squatter settled
himself there, and built a shed for rubbish under the windows of the
gilded saloons in which the first magnates of the realm, Norfolk,
Ormond, Kent, and Pembroke, gave banquets and balls. It was not till
these nuisances had lasted through a whole generation, and till much had
been written about them, that the inhabitants applied to Parliament for
permission to put up rails, and to plant trees. [121]

When such was the state of the region inhabited by the most luxurious
portion of society, we may easily believe that the great body of the
population suffered what would now be considered as insupportable
grievances. The pavement was detestable: all foreigners cried shame
upon it. The drainage was so bad that in rainy weather the gutters soon
became torrents. Several facetious poets have commemorated the fury
with which these black rivulets roared down Snow Hill and Ludgate Hill,
bearing to Fleet Ditch a vast tribute of animal and vegetable filth from
the stalls of butchers and greengrocers. This flood was profusely thrown
to right and left by coaches and carts. To keep as far from the carriage
road as possible was therefore the wish of every pedestrian. The
mild and timid gave the wall. The bold and athletic took it. If two
roisterers met they cocked their hats in each other's faces, and pushed
each other about till the weaker was shoved towards the kennel. If he
was a mere bully he sneaked off, mattering that he should find a time.
If he was pugnacious, the encounter probably ended in a duel behind
Montague House. [122]

The houses were not numbered. There would indeed have been little
advantage in numbering them; for of the coachmen, chairmen, porters,
and errand boys of London, a very small proportion could read. It was
necessary to use marks which the most ignorant could understand. The
shops were therefore distinguished by painted or sculptured signs, which
gave a gay and grotesque aspect to the streets. The walk from Charing
Cross to Whitechapel lay thro