London, 18th century style

While researching my context essay on William Hogarth I came across this brilliant poem on London

Houses, churches, mixed together,

Streets unpleasant in all weather;

Prisons, palaces contiguous

Gates, a bridge, the Thames irriguous.

Gaudy things enough to tempt ye,

Showy outsides, insides empty;

Bubbles, trades, mechanic arts,

Coaches, wheelbarrows and carts.

Warrants, bailiffs, bills unpaid,

Lords of laundresses afraid:

Rogues that nightly rob and shoot men,

Hangmen, aldermen and footmen.

Lawyers, poets, priests, physicians

Noble, simple, all conditions:

Worth beneath a threadbare cover,

Villainy bedaubed all over.

Women black, fair, red and grey,

Prudes and such as never pray,

Handsome, ugly, noisy, still,

Some that will not, some that will.

Many a beau without a shilling,

Many a widow not unwilling;

Many a bargain if you strike it:

This is London! How d’ye like it?

JOHN BANCKS, ‘A Description of London’ (1738)

Hasn't got much better since then, has it?