scholar,
a man of wit, of high sentiment, of refinement, and a good fortune
withal--now by a sudden turn of law bereft of the last only, and
finding that none of the rest, for which (having his fortune) he
had been so much admired, enabled him to gain a livelihood. His
title-deeds had been lost or stolen, and so he was bereft of
everything he possessed. He had talents, and such as would have been
profitably available had he known how to use them for his new purpose;
but he did not; he was misdirected; he made fruitless efforts in his
want of experience; and he was now starving. As he passed the great
Dust-heap, he gave one vague, melancholy gaze that way, and then
looked wistfully into the canal. And he continued to look into the
canal as he slowly moved along, till he was out of sight.

A Dust-heap of this kind is often worth thousands of pounds. The
present one was very large and very valuable. It was in fact a large
hill, and being in the vicinity of small suburb cottages, it rose
above them like a great black mountain. Thistles, groundsel, and rank
grass grew in knots on small parts which had remained for a long time
undisturbed; crows often alighted on its top, and seemed to put on
their spectacles and become very busy and serious; flocks of sparrows
often made predatory descents upon it; an old goose and gander might
sometimes he seen following each other up its side, nearly midway;
pigs rooted around its base,--and now and then, one bolder than the
rest would venture some way up, attracted by the mixed odors of some
hidden marrow-bone enveloped in a decayed cabbage-leaf--a rare event,
both of these articles being unusual oversights of the Searchers
below.

The principal ingredient of all these Dust-heaps is fine cinders
and ashes; but as they are accumulated from the contents of all the
dust-holes and bins of the vicinity, and as many more as possible,
the fresh arrivals in their original state present very heterogeneous
materials. We cannot better describe them than by presenting a brief
sketch of the different departments of the Searchers and Sorters,
who are assembled below to busy themselves upon the mass of original
matters which are shot out from the carts of the dustmen.

The bits of coal, the pretty numerous results of accident and
servants' carelessness, are picked out, to be sold forthwith; the
largest and best of the cinders are also selected, by another party,
who sell them to laundresses, or to b