CHAPTER VI.



London, June 17th, 1782.

I have now been pretty nearly all over London, and, according to my
own notions, have now seen most of the things I was most anxious to
see. Hereafter, then, I propose to make an excursion into the
country; and this purpose, by the blessing of God, I hope to be able
to carry into effect in a very few days, for my curiosity is here
almost satiated. I seem to be tired and sick of the smoke of these
sea-coal fires, and I long, with almost childish impatience, once
more to breathe a fresher and clearer air.

It must, I think, be owned, that upon the whole, London is neither
so handsomely nor so well built as Berlin is; but then it certainly
has far more fine squares. Of these there are many that in real
magnificence and beautiful symmetry far surpass our Gens d'Armes
Markt, our Denhoschen and William's Place. The squares or
quadrangular places contain the best and most beautiful buildings of
London; a spacious street, next to the houses, goes all round them,
and within that there is generally a round grass-plot, railed in
with iron rails, in the centre of which, in many of them, there is a
statue, which statues most commonly are equestrian and gilt. In
Grosvenor Square, instead of this green plot or area, there is a
little circular wood, intended, no doubt, to give one the idea of