magistrates, namely, the lord mayor and aldermen, sit in rotation every day, and take cognizance of all complaints arising within the jurisdiction of London. For all the parts of the metropolis out of this jurisdiction, twenty-seven stipendiary magistrates are appointed. Three at Bow Street, under a jurisdiction long established, and twentyfour by a statute called the " police act," passed in the present reign. These twenty-four have eight different offices assigned to them, at different distances, in Westminster, Middlesex, and Surrey; namely, one in each of the following streets: Great Marlborough Street, Hatton Garden, Worship Street, Shoreditch, Lambeth Street, Whitechapel, High Street, Shadwell, Union Street, Southwark, and one in Wapping. The last is under a separate act of parliament; and the attention of the magistrate there, is almost entirely confined to the cognizance of offences, either committed on the River Thames, or connected with maritime affairs. The duty of the magistrates in these offices extends to several important judicial proceedings, which, in a variety of instances, they are empowered and required to hear and determine in a summary way; particularly in cases relating to the customs, excise, coaches, carts, pawnbrokers, persons unlawfully pawning the property of others, and a variety of other matters under penal statutes. Their duty also extends to many other objects, such as the cases of persons charged with being disorderly, persons brought for examination under charges of treason, murder, felony, fraud, and misdemeanors of every description: all of which unavoidably impose upon every magistrate a weight of business, requiring great exertion, and an anxious attention to the public interest. At each of these offices there are three magistrates. Two of them attend every day except Sunday, and one every evening. Two clerks, an office keeper, a messenger, and from eight to twelve constables, are also attached to each. The Thames police, from the nature of the duty, has a considerable number of constables, surveyors, watermen, and watchmen. * - The establishment of the public office in Bow Street is upon a more enlarged scale than the rest. Besides the usual number of constables, there are a hundred foot patroles, under proper conductors, who, to the distance of two or three miles, perambulate the environs of the metropolis: and in the winter season there are also forty horsemen, who ride every evening, and night on the principal roads to the distance of ten or fifteen miles from town. These two bodies of men are well armed, and are under the direction of the chief magistrates of Bow Street. Under different acts, a nightly watch is appointed for the prevention of robberies, and the apprehension of offenders. To the city of London are attached seven hundred and sixtyfive watchmen, and thirty-eight patroles. The whole number of beadles, patroles, and watchmen, L who are every night on duty in and around the metropolis, is estimated at 2044.. Watch houses are placed at convenient distances in all parts, where parochial constables attend to keep order, receive offenders, and deliver them the next morning to the sitting magistrate. On extraordinary occasions, the officers of the police are ordered out, or kept in readiness to assist in the preservation of the peace. The nightly watch is of peculiar utility in cases of fire, as in every watch book the names of the turncocks, and the places where engines are kept, are to be found. Besides parochial engines, many public bodies are provided with them, and the principal fire offices have engines stationed in various districts, with active men and horses. By means of fire plugs, water is immediately supplied, and the general security is guaranteed by every effort of vigilance and activity. Origin and general Display of Crimes, &c. &c. IN Colquhoun's work on the police of the metropolis, such a deplorable display of profligacy and criminality is given, that an inexperienced reader, who knew London only through the medium of his work, might be apt to conclude that most of its inhabitants consisted of vagabonds, sharpers, pickpockets, and prostitutes. But let it be remembered, that his publication is chiefly devoted to this subject, and that, amidst so vast a population, and where there are so many opportunities for villains to practise their depredations, and screen themselves from detection, it is not surprising that so many are collected together, and that out of a great number, so few are brought to condign punishment. To this great hive of human beings, the most vicious, as well as the most learned, will resort, as the best field of exertion. The intelligent and excellent magistrate, already named, has enumerated and described eighteen different classes of cheats and swindlers, who infest the metropolis, and prey upon the honest and unwary; besides persons who live by gambling, coining, housebreaking, robbery, and plunder on the river. He deduces the origin of most of these crimes from the prevalence of public houses, bad education of apprentices, servants out of place, Jews, receivers of stolen goods, pawnbrokers, low gaming-houses, smuggling, associations in prisons, and the prevalence of prostitution. No less than 50,000 prostitutes are supposed to live in London and it is presumed that eight tenths of these die prematurely of disease and misery, having previously corrupted twice their own number of young girls and young men. One of the chief nurseries of crimes, says this valuable author, is to be traced to the receivers of stolen property. In the metropolis there are supposed to be upwards of 3000 receivers of various kinds of stolen goods, and an equal proportion all over the country, who keep open shop for the purpose of purchasing, at an under price, often for a mere trifle, every kind of property brought to them, and this without asking a single question. It is supposed that the property purloined and pilfered in a little way, from almost every family, and from every house, stable, shop, warehouse, &c. &c. in and about the metropolis, may amount to about 700,000/. in one year. The vast increase and extensive circulation of counterfeit money, almost exceeds credibility; and the ingenuity and dexterity of these coun terfeiters have enabled them to finish the different kinds of base money in so masterly a manner, that it has become extremely difficult to distinguish their spurious from the real manufacture. In London, regular markets, in various public and private houses, are held by the principal dealers, where hawkers, pedlars, fraudulent horsedealers, unlicensed lottery-office keepers, gamblers at fairs, itinerant Jews, Irish labourers, market women, rabbit sellers, fish criers, barrow women, and many others, are regularly supplied with counterfeit money, with the advantage of nearly 1007. per cent in their favour. J There exists in the metropolis a class of dealers, extremely numerous, who keep open shops for the purchase of rags, old iron, and other metals. These are divided into wholesale and retail dealers. The retail dealers are the immediate purchasers, in the first instance, from the pilferers, or their agents; and as soon as they collect a sufficient quantity of iron, brass, or other metals, worthy the notice of a large |