of our constitution, the Pension-List, Places,
and Sinecures; but, it was not until 'two
pages bearing flambeaux filled with burning
incense,' preceded a young lady 'attired in a
white satin robe and mounted on a white
palfrey,' that the joint idea of MR. BATTY and
the Lord Mayor burst upon me. I will not
expatiate on the pleasure with which I found
my discovery confirmed by every succeeding
object. I will endeavour to state the idea to
you in a tranquil manner, and to do justice to
MR. BATTY and the Lord Mayor.

"The Tallow Chandlers' Company," MR.
BOOLEY proceeds, "with their Under Beadle
and Beadle, I found to be the representatives
of noxious trades and unwholesome smells;
at present very rife within the City of
London, but shortly to disappear before the
penitent exertions of the Corporation. The
Band of Pensioners, with javelins and shields,
were clearly the persons interested in the
maintenance of such nuisances, though
powerless either for attack or defence, and only
following those sources of disease and death
into oblivion. The burning incense, I need
not observe, was used to purify and disinfect
the foul air before the appearance
of the Goddess HYGEIA (called PEACE in the
programme, that the Allegory might not be
too obvious), who was very properly
represented with a spotless dress, and riding on a
spotless palfrey. It was a happy part of
this thoughtful fancy, that the civic authorities,
and the Aldermen in their carriages,
had gone before; MR. BATTY and the Lord
Mayor being sensible that until those
distinguished functionaries had moved on a little,
and been got out of the way, the appearance
of the Goddess of Health could not possibly
be expected.

"The Goddess, that distinguished stranger,"
MR. BOOLEY goes on to say, "having been
received by the City of London with loud
acclamations, and having been most eagerly
and enthusiastically welcomed by the
multitudes, who were to be seen squeezed into
courts, byeways, and cellars, gave place to 'The
Horse of Europe;' in which generous
quadruped I perceived a pledge and promise on
the part of the Corporation, that filled me
with the liveliest emotions. For, not to dwell
upon the significant fact that the body, which
it is my welcome function to commend so
highly, paraded, on this solemn occasion, a
Horse, and not a Donkey—which is in itself
worthy of observation: the City having, very
frequently heretofore, made a surprising show
of Donkeys when the Public Health has been
under discussion—I had only to refer to
BUFFON, to strengthen my sense of the
importance of this beautiful symbol. 'Horses,'
says he, 'are gentle, and their tempers social;
they seldom show their ardour and strength
by any other sign than emulation. They
endeavour to be foremost in the course.' And
again, 'They renounce their very being for
the service of man.' And again, 'Their
manners almost wholly depend on their education.'
And again, 'A horse naturally morose,
gloomy, or stubborn, produces foals of the
same disposition; and as the defects of
confirmation, as well as the vices of the humours,
perpetuate with still more certainty than the
natural qualities, great care should be taken
to exclude from the stud all deformed, vicious,
glandered, broken-winded, or mad horses.'
No animal could have better illustrated the
united meaning of MR. BATTY and the Lord
Mayor. The City pledged itself by that token
to show its ardour and strength by emulation
in all efforts for the public good, and to abandon
all other considerations to the service of
man. Further, it recognised the great truth,
that the manners of a people depend upon
their education; and that gloomy, morose,
or otherwise ill-conditioned parents will
perpetuate an ill-conditioned and constantly
degenerating race; irksome to itself and
dangerous to all. Hence, it promised to extend,
by all possible means, among the poor, the
blessings of light, air, cleanliness, and instruction;
and no longer to enforce filth, squalor,
ill-health, and ignorance, upon thousands of
God's creatures. I was particularly struck,"
MR. BOOLEY remarks, "by this beautiful
part of the Allegory, and shall ever regard
MR. BATTY and the Lord Mayor with a feeling
of personal affection.

"The Horse of Europe was followed by the
Camel of Asia. And difficult, indeed, it
would have been," says MR. BOOLEY, "to have
presented, next in order, any animal more
felicitously carrying out the general idea.
For, the impossibility of people being healthy
and clean without a good and cheap supply
of water, must be as obvious to the meanest
capacity, as even the dearness, bad quality,
and insufficient quantity, of the present supply
of water in London. I therefore consider
that anything happier than the exhibition at
this point of an animal who is supplied with
a subtle inward mechanism for storing this
first necessary of life—who is furnished, as
I may say, with an inexpensive "Water
Works of its own—was one of the most
agreeable and pointed illustrations ever
presented to a populace. I consider it a
stroke of genius, and beg thus publicly to
tender the poor tribute of my warmest
admiration to MR. BATTY and the Lord
Mayor.

"After the Camel of Asia, came the
Elephant of Africa. I found this idea,
likewise, very pleasant. The exquisite scent
possessed by the elephant rendered it out of
the question that he could have been produced
at an earlier stage of the Procession, or the
Tallow-Chandlers, with their Under Beadles,
Beadles, and Band of Pensioners, might have
roused him to a state of fury. Therefore, the
Civic Dignitaries and Aldermen (whose noses
are not keen) immediately followed that ill-
savoured Company, and the Elephant was
reserved until now.