BRITAIN 18TH CENTURY:
Every
visitor to 18th-century was impressed by the noise and the crowds of people. Cities
were neither attractive nor clean. Most residents lived in awful conditions.
Houses and apartments were thrown together in a sloppy manner, with little
attention to plans or codes. Buildings were patched up, subdivided, and
subdivided again to pack as many people into as little square footage as
possible, which left a jumble of narrow, unlit passageways between residences
and shops. Walking through one of these stinking, airless alleyways -
especially after dark - was terribly risky, since the complicated pattern of
streets provided excellent cover for lurking criminals.
The city had become honeycombed with what were intended to be temporary dwellings but which grew to be permanent ones. Business establishments were cut up into tenements. Hovels and shacks were commonplace. Many of the poor crowded into deserted houses. A sizeable number of the city's inhabitants both lived and worked below ground level.
Commercial streets were no less hazardous. Many London buildings were made with such shoddy materials - crumbling bricks and knotty timber - that it was not unusual for them to collapse. Heavy, pendulous shop signs projected out from storefronts on large iron bars.
The city had become honeycombed with what were intended to be temporary dwellings but which grew to be permanent ones. Business establishments were cut up into tenements. Hovels and shacks were commonplace. Many of the poor crowded into deserted houses. A sizeable number of the city's inhabitants both lived and worked below ground level.
Commercial streets were no less hazardous. Many London buildings were made with such shoddy materials - crumbling bricks and knotty timber - that it was not unusual for them to collapse. Heavy, pendulous shop signs projected out from storefronts on large iron bars.
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