unless acting under the superior orders of Mr. Braidwood, the
superintendent or general-in-chief, whose head-quarters are in
Watling-street.

In comparison with the great Continental cities such a force seems
truly insignificant. Paris, which does not cover a fifth part of the
ground of London, and is not much more than a third as populous,
boasts 800 _sapeurs-pompiers_: we make up, however, for want of
numbers by activity. Again, our lookout is admirable: the 6,000
police of the metropolis, patrolling every alley and lane throughout
its length and breadth, watch for a fire as terriers watch at
rat-holes, and every man is stimulated by the knowledge, that if he is
the first to give notice of it at any of the stations, it is half a
sovereign in his pocket. In addition to the police, there are the
thousand eager eyes of the night cabmen and the houseless poor. It is
not at all uncommon for a cabman to earn four or five shillings of a
night by driving fast to the different stations and giving the alarm,
receiving a shilling from each for the "call."

In most Continental cities a watchman takes his stand during the night
on the topmost point of some high building, and gives notice by either
blowing a horn, firing a gun, or ringing a bill. In Germany the
quarter is indicated by holding out towards it a flag by day, and a
lantern at night. It immediately suggests itself that a sentinel
placed in the upper gallery of St. Paul's would have under his eye the
whole Metropolis, and could make known instantly, by means of an
electric wire, the position of a fire, to the head station at
Watling-street, in the same manner as the Americans do in Boston.
This plan is, however, open to the objection, that London is
intersected by a sinuous river, which renders it difficult to tell on