u owe,' they
said to the debtor, 'or else stay where you are.' The debtor could not
pay: in prison the debtor had no means of making any money: therefore he
stayed where he was until he died. For the accommodation of these
unhappy persons there were the King's Bench and the Marshalsea, both in
Southwark: there were the two Compters, both in the City: and there was
the Fleet Prison.

The life in these prisons can be found described in many novels. It was
a squalid and miserable life among ruined gamblers, spendthrifts,
profligates, broken down merchants, bankrupt tradesmen, and helpless
women of all classes. Unless one had allowances from friends, starvation
might be the end. In one at least the common hall had shelves ranged
round the walls for the reception of beds: everything was carried on in
the same room, living, sleeping, eating, cooking. And into such a
place as this the unhappy debtor was thrust, there to remain till death
released him.

[Illustration: THE OLD HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT AND WESTMINSTER ABBEY,
1803.]

This was the London of a hundred and fifty years ago. No longer
picturesque as in the old days, but solidly constructed, handsome, and
substantial. The merchants still lived in the city but the nobles had
all gone. The Companies possessed the greater part of the City and still
ruled though they no longer dictated the wages, hours, and prices.
Within the walls there reigned comparative order: outside there was no
government at all. The river below the Bridge was crowded with ships
moored two and four together side by side with an open way in the
middle. Thousands of barges and lighters were engaged upon the cargoes:
every day the church bells rang for a large and orderly congregation:
every day arose in every street such an uproar as we cannot even
imagine: yet there were quiet spots in the City with shady gardens where
one could sit at peace: wealth grew fast: but with it there grew up the
mob with the fear of anarchy and license, a taste of which was afforded
by the Gordon Riots. Yet it would be eighty years before the city should
understand the necessity for a police.

60. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY.

PART I.

Let us walk into the streets. You will not observe, because you are used
to these things, and have been brought up among them, and are accustomed
to them, that all the men go about unarmed: that they do not carry even
a stick for their protection: that they do not fight or quarrel