is necessary, sir," replied Leonard. "I will no longer place any
restraint upon you."

So saying, and taking care not to let Bell out, he passed through the
door, and closed it after him. Having walked to some distance across the
fields, musing on what had just occurred, and scarcely conscious whither
he was going, he threw himself down on the grass, and fell asleep. He
awoke after some time much refreshed, and finding he was considerably
nearer Bishopsgate than any other entrance into the city, determined to
make for it. A few minutes brought him to a row of houses without the
walls, none of which appeared to have escaped infection, and passing
them, he entered the city gate. As he proceeded along the once-crowded
but now utterly-deserted thoroughfare that opened upon him, he could
scarcely believe he was in a spot which had once been the busiest of the
busy haunts of men--so silent, so desolate did it appear! On reaching
Cornhill, he found it equally deserted. The Exchange was closed, and as
Leonard looked at its barred gates, a saddening train of reflection
passed through his mind. His head declined upon his breast, and he
continued lost in a mournful reverie until he was roused by a hand laid
upon his shoulder, and starting--for such a salutation at this season
was alarming--he looked round, and beheld Solomon Eagle.

"You are looking upon that structure," said the enthusiast, "and are
thinking how much it is changed. Men who possess boundless riches
imagine their power above that of their Maker, and suppose they may
neglect and defy him. But they are mistaken. Where are now the wealthy
merchants who used to haunt those courts and chambers?--why do they not
come here as of old?--why do they not buy and sell, and send their
messengers and ships to the farthest parts of the world? Because the
Lord hath smitten them and driven them forth--'From the least of them
even to the greatest of them,' as the prophet Jeremiah saith, 'every one
has been given to covetousness.' The balances of deceit have been in
their hands. They have cozened their neighbours, and greedily gained
from them, and will find it true what the prophet Ezekiel hath written,
that 'the Lord will pour out his indignation upon them, and consume them
with the fire of his wrath.' Yea, I tell you, unless they turn from
their evil ways--unless they cast aside the golden idol they now
worship, and set up the Holy One of Israel in its stead, a fire will be
sent