From these it is carried in barrels, on the backs of
male and female porters, up two, three, four, five, six, seven,
and eight pairs of stairs, for the use of particular families --
Every story is a complete house, occupied by a separate family;
and the stair being common to them all, is generally left in a
very filthy condition; a man must tread with great circumspection
to get safe housed with unpolluted shoes -- Nothing can form a
stronger contrast, than the difference betwixt the outside and
inside of the door, for the good-women of this metropolis are
remarkably nice in the ornaments and propriety of their
apartments, as if they were resolved to transfer the imputation
from the individual to the public. You are no stranger to their
method of discharging all their impurities from their windows, at
a certain hour of the night, as the custom is in Spain, Portugal,
and some parts of France and Italy -- A practice to which I can by
no means be reconciled; for notwithstanding all the care that is
taken by their scavengers to remove this nuisance every morning
by break of day, enough still remains to offend the eyes, as well
as other organs of those whom use has not hardened against all
delicacy of sensation.
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