stionable whether the presence of the dreaded "beak" might
not have proved the reverse of a "draw." However, they came, possibly in
happy ignorance of the potentate who was awaiting them, and than whom
there is one only creation of civilized life considered by the London
cadger his more natural enemy, that is the policeman.

Six o'clock was the hour appointed for the repast, and there was no need
for the wanderer in Walworth Road to inquire which was Penrose Street.
Little groups of shambling fellows hulked about the corner waiting for
some one to lead the way to the unaccustomed chapel. Group after group,
however, melted away into the dingy building where Ned was ready to
welcome them. With him I found, not one magistrate, but two; one the
expected magnate from the country, the other a well-known occupant of
the London bench, with whom, I fancy, many of the guests could boast a
previous acquaintance of a character the reverse of desirable. Penrose
Street Chapel had been formerly occupied by the Unitarians, but was then
taken permanently by Ned Wright at a rental of between _60l._ and _70l._
per annum, and formed the third of his "centres," the others being under
a railway arch in the New Kent Road, and the Mission Hall, Deptford. As
row by row filled with squalid occupants, I could but scan from my
vantage-ground in the gallery the various physiognomies. I am bound to
say the typical gaol-bird was but feebly represented. The visitors
looked like hard-working men--a little pinched and hungry, perhaps, and
in many cases obviously dejected and ashamed of the qualification which
gave them their seat. One or two, mostly of the younger, came in with a
swagger and a rough joke; but Ned and his guests knew one another, and
he quickly removed the lively young gentleman to a quiet corner out of
harm's way. A fringe of spectators, mostly female, occupied the front
seat in the gallery when proceedings commenced, which they did with a
hymn, composed by Ned Wright himself. The ladies' voices proved very
useful in this respect; but most of the men took the printed copies of
the hymns, which were handed round, and looked as if they could read
them, not a few proving they could by singing full-voiced. After the
hymn, Wright announced that he had ordered eighty gallons of soup--some
facetious gentleman suggesting, "That's about a gallon apiece"--and he
hoped all would get enough. Probably about 100 guests had by this time
assembled, and