impracticable to smite his
antagonist upon the victualling-office, so dexterously was it defended
against assault. He then changed his battery, and being ambidexter,
raised such a clatter upon the turnkey's blind side, that this hero,
believing him left-handed, converted his attention that way, and opposed
the unenlightened side of his face to the right hand of Pipes, which
being thus unprovided against, slyly bestowed upon him a peg under the
fifth rib, that in an instant laid him senseless on the pavement, at
the feet of his conqueror. Pipes was congratulated upon his victory,
not only by his friend Hatchway, but also by all the by-standers,
particularly the priest who had espoused his cause, and now invited the
strangers to his lodgings in a neighbouring alehouse, where they were
entertained so much to their liking, that they determined to seek
no other habitation while they should continue in town; and,
notwithstanding the disgrace and discouragement they had met with, in
their endeavours to serve our adventurer, they were still resolved to
persevere in their good offices, or, in the vulgar phrase, to see him
out.

While they settled themselves in this manner, and acquired familiar
connections round all the purlieus of the ditch, Peregrine found himself
deprived of the company of Cadwallader, who signified, by letter, that
he did not choose to hazard his person again in visiting him, while such
assassins occupied the avenues through which he must pass; for he had
been at pains to inquire into the motions of the seamen, and informed
himself exactly of the harbour in which they were moored.

Our hero had been so much accustomed to the conversation of Crabtree,
which was altogether suitable to the singularity of his own disposition,
that he could very ill afford to be debarred of it at this juncture,
when almost every other source of enjoyment was stopped. He was,
however, obliged to submit to the hardships of his situation; and as the
characters of his fellow-prisoners did not at all improve upon him, he
was compelled to seek for satisfaction within himself. Not but that he
had an opportunity of conversing with some people who neither wanted
sense, nor were deficient in point of principle; yet there appeared in
the behaviour of them all, without exception, a certain want of decorum,
a squalor of sentiment, a sort of jailish cast contracted in the course
of confinement, which disgusted the delicacy of our hero's obser