es was; I, however, restrained myself. 'There is
nothing like flinging the bones!' shouted the man, as my friend and
myself left the room.

Long life and prosperity to Francis Ardry! but for him I should not have
obtained knowledge which I did of the strange and eccentric places of
London. Some of the places to which he took me were very strange places
indeed; but, however strange the places were, I observed that the
inhabitants thought there were no places like their several places, and
no occupations like their several occupations; and among other strange
places to which Francis Ardry conducted me was a place not far from the
abbey church of Westminster.

Before we entered this place our ears were greeted by a confused hubbub
of human voices, squealing of rats, barking of dogs, and the cries of
various other animals. Here we beheld a kind of cock-pit, around which a
great many people, seeming of all ranks, but chiefly of the lower, were
gathered, and in it we saw a dog destroy a great many rats in a very
small period; and when the dog had destroyed the rats, we saw a fight
between a dog and a bear, then a fight between two dogs, then . . .

After the diversions of the day were over, my friend introduced me to the
genius of the place, a small man of about five feet high, with a very
sharp countenance, and dressed in a brown jockey coat and top-boots.
'Joey,' said he, 'this is a friend of mine.' Joey nodded to me with a
patronising air. 'Glad to see you, sir!--want a dog?'

'No,' said I.

'You have got one, then--want to match him?'

'We have a dog at home,' said I, 'in the country; but I can't say I
should like to match him. Indeed, I do not like dog-fighting.'

'Not like dog-fighting!' said the man, staring.

'The truth is, Joe, that he is just come to town.'

'So I should think; he looks rather green--not like dog-fighting!'

'Nothing like it, is there, Joey?'

'I should think not; what is like it? A time will come, and that
speedily, when folks will give up everything else, and follow
dog-fighting.'

'Do you think so?' said I.

'Think so? Let me ask what there is that a man wouldn't give up for it?'

'Why,' said I modestly, 'there's religion.'

'Religion! How you talk. Why, there's myself, bred and born an
Independent, and intended to be a preacher, didn't I give up religion for
dog-fighting? Religion, indeed! If it were not for the rascally law, my
pit would fill better on Sundays than