young
blackguards I never see'd. It was only the other day I was thinking of
calling in a constable for my own protection, for I thought my pit would
have been torn down by them."

Scarcely knowing what to say, I made an observation at random. "You
show, by your own conduct," said I, "that there are other things worth
following besides dog-fighting. You practise rat-catching and badger-
baiting as well."

The dog-fancier eyed me with supreme contempt.

"Your friend here," said he, "might well call you a new one. When I
talks of dog-fighting, I of course means rat-catching, and
badger-baiting, ay, and bull-baiting too, just as when I speaks
religiously, when I says one I means not one but three. And talking of
religion puts me in mind that I have something else to do besides
chaffing here, having a batch of dogs to send off by this night's packet
to the Pope of Rome."

But at last I had seen enough of what London had to show, whether strange
or commonplace, so at least I thought, and I ceased to accompany my
friend in his rambles about town, and to partake of his adventures. Our
friendship, however, still continued unabated, though I saw, in
consequence, less of him. I reflected that time was passing on--that the
little money I had brought to town was fast consuming, and that I had
nothing to depend upon but my own exertions for a fresh supply; and I
returned with redoubled application to my pursuits.

CHAPTER XXXVI

Occupations--Traduttore Traditore--Ode to the Mist--Apple and
Pear--Reviewing--Current Literature--Oxford-like Manner--A Plain
Story--Ill-regulated Mind--Unsnuffed Candle--Strange Dreams.

I compiled the Chronicles of Newgate; {316a} I reviewed books for the
Review {316b} established on an entirely new principle; and I
occasionally tried my best to translate into German portions of the
publisher's philosophy. In this last task I experienced more than one
difficulty. I was a tolerable German scholar, it is true, and I had long
been able to translate from German into English with considerable
facility; but to translate from a foreign language into your own, is a
widely different thing from translating from your own into a foreign
language; and, in my first attempt to render the publisher into German, I
was conscious of making miserable failures, from pure ignorance of German
grammar; however, by the assistance of grammars and dictionaries, and by
extreme perseverance, I at length ove