MONTHLY COMMENTARY.

London Improvements-Marriages and Departures-Rail Roads-Rowland Stephenson, Lloyd, Miss Kemble-Watering Places; Herne Bay, Margate, Hastings, St. Leonard's, Beulah Spa.

LONDON IMPROVEMENTS.-Dr. Kenrick,-celebrated in his day as a literary reviewer, and a great enthusiast about Shakspeare, and for several other things, more curious in his day than ours, says, speaking of London in one of his comedies (for he was also a dramatist), The metropolis is overgrown-it is out of proportion to the country-the head is too big for the body, and the nation has got the rickets.' This was the Doctor's remark considerably more than half a century since; what he might have said had he lived to a patriarchal age, and seen the present state of London, it is difficult to surmise.

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Those who are not much in the habit of thinking, but who take things as they come, and look at that only which is right before their eyes, have no conception either of the extent of our native city--including the outparishes and Westminster-or of the total ignorance of the inhabitants of one part of it of the localities of another. The nuisance of omnibuses has this redeeming circumstance in its favour; it unquestionably facilitates an intercourse between the orientals and occidentals in a degree hitherto unknown, and yet little is comparatively understood of the ultra proceedings of either east or west. The north and south of London-from its being a long and narrow town--are much more closely approximated; and the native of Kentish Town may probably know where the obelisk in St. George's Fields stands, without obtaining any very great credit as a traveller.

A man in Piccadilly asks another the way to Leman Street, Goodman's Fields-they are both in the same town; yet the Piccadillyite, if he be a native, and to the manner born," is little likely to be able to tell him; the dandy (with a cigar in his mouth) of Finsbury Square or St. Helen's Place, as vainly inquires of his obliging neighbour the way to Connaught Place. Nothing gives an universal insight into metropolitan matters but the arrival in London of some foreign count or countess, who thinks it necessary to see all our lions, and subsequently laughs at us in a book of libels for our pains. There are upwards of eighty exhibitions open daily in London during the season, besides the Cathedrals, the Tower, the Custom-house, Christ's Hospital, and half a hundred other objects well worthy attention, but which we, who see the outsides of them every day, never think it worth our while to enter or make further inquiry about.

We are led into these remarks by having accidentally been led to the new London Bridge-and the accident was rather an incident; it is true, we lost both our time and pains into the bargain in the end, (but, n'importe, she was very pretty,) except that it gave us an opportunity of looking at the improvements in progress in that vicinity, which are of a character so extremely important to the appearance of the city itself,

that we are assured the perfect silence upon the subject which we have remarked, arises literally from an ignorance of their existence.

It is impossible to imagine the change which the magician's wand, in the shape of the surveyor's rod, has so rapidly effected on both sides the river. On the Surrey side, Southwark High Street is laid lowthat narrow, wretched avenue, crowded and crammed with carts as it was wont to be, has given place to a fine handsome approach; and instead of the wretched tenements which, in the days of England's glory, sheltered the unfortunate victims of unbounded prosperity, have all been pulled down, and rows of splendid houses prepared for the suffering tradesmen whose present insolvent circumstances would draw tears from butchers' eyes.

The street leading in a line from St. Thomas's Street to the Borough Market has been widened, and an opening has been left whence the beautiful church of St. Saviour, and the restored Chapel of the Virginwhich the Cockney architects think to make more interesting than its own antiquity renders it, by calling it the "Ladye" Chapel, as if it was necessary to call Lady-Ladye,-appears to the greatest advantage. On the other side of the street the whole of the houses have been pulled down which stood between St. Thomas's Hospital and the bridge, and a new street built, which joins Tooley Street, by means of arches, just beyond the church. The space between this new street and the hospital is enclosed with iron railings, which extend to the street itself, and the whole of the domain, comprising many acres, belongs to the institution. All the traffic to old Tooley Street is now carried on under archways, and does not in the slightest degree interfere, as it did formerly, with the thoroughfare of what was formerly High Street.

A similar arrangement has been made on the London side of the river for the communication between Upper and Lower Thames-street; and the advantages derivable from this decided separation of the heavy carts and waggons necessary for carrying on the business of the wharfs and warehouses from the lighter carriages, and for the conveyance of less ponderous articles and passengers, are inconceivable.

Upon the city side of this magnificent bridge, which produces an entirely novel effect upon the eye from the circumstance of its being lower than the approaches leading to it, the first object which attracts the passenger's notice is the new Hall of the Company of Fishmongers,—a company distinguished by having upon its books some of the most illustrious and extraordinary personages of the day. This is a magnificent quadrangular building of stone, with two fronts, one facing the river, where the fish are caught, and the other facing the street, where the fraternity are received: it is a very beautiful elevation, and forms a very effective feature to the scene.

Farther on, an opening gives us a fine view of the Monument, which we rejoice to see still remains unmutilated by the sacrilegious hands of the Goths, who wished to render it a monument to nothing, by defacing the inscription which so justly and historically attributes the burning of London to the Papists. This new Bridge-street, by a bold curve, cuts into the old Gracechurch Street, just above where Fish-street Hill formerly stood; while, on the left hand, a new and magnificent street is in progress of erection, which will lead directly from the square in front of the bridge to the eastern corner of the Mansion House, shortening the distance by

at least two-thirds, and placing the river at the immediate command of the chief magistrate of the city, to whom its uncontrolled dominion belongs, at least from Staines to Southend.

All these things have been done, and a magnificent pile of buildings raised, and not one human being in Grosvenor Square knows anything about it. We can tell the Grosvenorites and the Parklaneites that these improvements are worth looking at, if they care about the metropolis of the country; and when they are there, a peep at the newly-arranged armoury at the Tower will amply repay them for their trouble. We say this without knowing Dr. Meyrick, or caring for the interests of the warders, or those to whom the exorbitant fees of admission go; but it is a thing well worth seeing.

MARRIAGES AND DEPARTURES.-There have been a great many marriages during the month in high life, as low people call it, and a great many more, much more, serious things-we mean emigrations to the continent; they continue, as a French correspondent tells us, at the rate of sixty per diem. All this is bad-bad for the country—both in morals and finance, and is unquestionably the result of apprehension of consequences likely to result from the very unsettled state of affairs.

Lord Fordwich has married the daughter of Lord Grantham, or, as we ought to say-since his Lordship's accession to the title conferred upon his mother-Earl de Grey. The young lady is most highly connected, and, besides the immediate honours of her descent, is niece to the Earl of Ripon. Lord Fordwich, as our readers know, is the eldest son of Lord and Lady Cowper, and nephew of Lord Melbourne, who is stated to have behaved most liberally upon the occasion. There was of course the whole history of Valenciennes lace, and dejeuners, and travelling carriages, and honeymoons, which the happy couple proceeded to Pansanger to enjoy.

Mr. A'Court, the eldest son of Lord Heytesbury, so long in our diplomatic service, is married to the eldest daughter of the amiable and accomplished Lady Holmes, of the Isle of Wight. Sir Hussey Vivian is united to a young lady of the name of Webster, whose person and accomplishments are very highly spoken of; and Captain Yorke, son of the late Sir Joseph, and heir presumptive to the earldom of Hardwicke, has married one of the lovely and accomplished daughters of Lord and Lady Ravensworth. This is the fourth daughter of the family now married. The others are the Countess of Belgrave, Viscountess Barrington, and Lady Williamson.

Lord Crofton is married to Lady Georgiana Paget, eldest daughter of Lord Anglesey by the present Duchess of Argyle. Lord Anglesey's health would not allow of his remaining in England to be present at the ceremony. But the marriage of the month most distinguished by the ceremony and circumstances which attended it, is that of the Hon. Henry Wellesley, eldest son of Lord Cowley, to the Hon. Olivia de Roos, daughter of the late Baroness de Roos, by the late Right Hon. Lord Henry Fitzgerald, sister of the present Lord de Roos, and Maid of Honour to Her Majesty. The ceremony took place on Wednesday evening at six o'clock, in the private chapel of Windsor Castle; the Bishop of Worcester performed the ceremony, and the King was graciously pleased to give the bride away. Lady Georgiana Howe and Miss Taylor

were the bridesmaids. The new-married couple left Windsor for the Queen's Lodge in Bushy Park, at nine o'clock. The Queen and the Duke of Wellington were present at the ceremony, together with the relations of the bride, and the superior officers of the royal household.

As for the emigrations, nobody who has not considered the subject can be at all aware of their extent, or the effect which they must necessarily produce upon commerce in the ensuing season. We are credibly informed, that the passports granted during the last two months average sixty per diem, or one thousand eight hundred per month. Already, as we perceive by the statements put forth at the anti-tax payment meetings, trade the inland trade-is so much decreased as to disable the shopkeepers from paying these absolutely necessary imposts. What will it be when the élite of fashion are gone, and the fashionable shopkeepers, who will be bereft of customers, find that they have the highest rents. and the heaviest taxes to pay?

It seems curious, but we believe it to be a fact, that St. James's is one of the most dissatisfied parishes in London. There are constant squabbles between the vestry and the parishioners, and between the select and the general, and the assessors and the assessed; while, in point of fact, it is notorious that the prices of every article of consumption are, in the parish, assessed proportionably to the locality and character of the purchasers.

It is, however, a serious thing to find the flower of the country blowing off-it is ominous and unpleasant. We are not of a gloomy turn of mind, but we cannot but anticipate sad reverses from a general defection of the aristocracy.

RAIL ROADS.-The insanity of 1825 appears to have broken out again. We see, on all hands and on every side, announcements of new projectsnew schemes-new joint-stock companies-all of which we look at with that degree of suspicion which is justly excited by recollections of the ruin and misery' in which the blind folly of a gullable public involved thousands of innocent, unoffending people, at the period to which we now refer.

The Joint-Stock Bank speculation is a most plausible scheme; so are the iron rail-roads, the steam-carriages, and trams, to Bristol, and Dover, and Oxford, and Birmingham. As for the Joint-Stock Bank affairs, Mr. George Farren's pamphlet has put those clearly to rest, at least if common sense is to prevail over humbug and pretension; and as for the railways, we have one fact to offer which is worth a million of prospectuses, or half a hundred shares-the Manchester and Liverpool railroad has been supported only by passengers, since its opening; the weight of merchandise and manufactures traversing the trams, or rails as they are now called, works down all the profit. The wear and tear is far beyond the revenue. The light carriages, even with heavy passengers, are profitable, and for the short distance, and with the constant intercourse between Manchester and Liverpool, superadded to curiosity, which induces every adventurous and inquiring dunce to prefer being whisked through the air at the tail of a boiler to travelling comfortably in his carriage and four, this part of the speculation has answered; but that part which more seriously applies to the intercourse between London and Birmingham or Bristol, has been a complete failure. No man in his

senses, unless he had most pressing business, would go either to Bristol or Birmingham, the one an epitome of Thames-street and Smithfield, and the other an anticipation of a future state of life the least desirable that can be imagined. All the traffic for these long distances would, therefore, be confined to sugar-hogsheads, tierces of pork, and bales of cotton from the one; and musket-barrels, snuffer-trays, and buttons from the other, packed in such quantities as to grind down not only the London prices, but the Company's roads. It is all a mistake: so long as GOD is good enough to give us horses and carriages, and the power to possess and use them, all this jigamaree stuff of boiling and bouncing along will be a failure. It may make a burst for a little; indeed it already has done so more than once; but we would seriously advise our friends to keep their money in their pockets, "take the goods the gods provide,” and wait before they lay out their substance in what are called improvements, but which, unless we are much mistaken, will turn out bubbles, "such as the sea hath," or rather such as the year 1825 had, to which we have already pointed.

ROWLAND STEPHENSON-LLOYD-MISS KEMBLE.-Amongst the curious circumstances of human life and its vicissitudes, it is impossible not to remark the fate of Rowland Stephenson, the late banker of Lombard-street. This man, in the enjoyment of every luxury suited to his temper and mind, the pleasures of the table, of wine, of the theatres, in several of which he had private boxes,—the éclat of parliament, which then was something, and which he highly appreciated,-suddenly left the country overwhelmed with criminal debt and irretrievable disgrace.

It seems that a confidential clerk, called Lloyd, was, in fact, the principal actor in this affair; and that Stephenson became the dupe of the underling whom he had condescended to trust. Stephenson, at all events, lived poorly and sadly in America: Lloyd gaily and callously. But mark the point: at length Stephenson has been arrested and lodged in jail in the United States, at the suit of the ex-Sheriff Parkins, and is, or at least was at the time the latest letters left that land of liberty, incarcerated; with this peculiarity, that his prosecutor, or plaintiff, or whatever he is called in those parts, the ex-Sheriff himself, was also an inmate of the same prison.

We remember a year or two ago, when Sir Joseph blackballed the gay and spirituel Viscount at White's, he gave as his only reason for doing so the popularity of the young Lord. "Wherever I go," said Sir Joseph, "I see him. I cannot miss him, do what I can. I have blackballed him here, in order to have one room at least in London where I am sure of not meeting him."

This reason was an amiable one :-however there are no balloting boxes in American prisons we presume; and Rowland Stephenson, however anxious he might have been to exclude Parkins, (Parkins having no desire to leave Stephenson out,) is obliged not only, not to secure himself from the collision, but to endure the association.

Talking of America, it seems that our Fanny Kemble, although to be married to an American, is not to continue in the United States,-or rather, in those states which are miscalled united. She is to come to the country which owns and claims her, and is here to be made Mr. Butler's wife; after which, (as the play bills would say,) Charles Kemble is (at