for which you must
pay smartly, other-wise be detained till Justice opens her
doors to descry and punish your enormities, according to the
nature of the crime committed; upon which the Spunger says,
that he foresaw and told you the consequences that would
happen if you persevered, but that you would not listen to
his advice.

~101~~ Having done satisfactory justice to the buttock and flank, and
further refreshed themselves with a draught of Whitbread's Entire;
our pedestrians, leaving the "Boil'd Beef House," recommenced their
excursion by proceeding up the Old Bailey, when Dashall remarking on the
number of Eating Houses with which that street abounds, observed, that
it seemed a favorite seat of consolidation for the professors of the
culinary art, like Cloth-fair for Woollen-drapers, Paternoster-Row for
Booksellers, and Clerkenwell for Watch-makers, &c. "This," said Dashall,
"is His Majesty's Gaol of Newgate, and from this door ascend the
numerous victims to the fatal scaffold, in immolation to the offended
laws of their country. Let us enter this temporary abode of crime
and wretchedness. It has been much meliorated by the humane and
indefatigable attentions of an excellent lady, Mrs. Elizabeth Fry, and
I am desirous of seeing the result of her philanthropic exertions." The
gentlemanly appearance and demeanour of the two strangers facilitated
their admission, and they entered the prison preceded by one of the
turnkeys, who courteously had proffered his services in shewing the
place, and giving every required information.

Newgate, on the eastern side of the Old Bailey, has been rebuilt, its
walls or shell excepted, since it was destroyed by the rioters, in the
year 1780. A broad yard divides Newgate from the Sessions House, a very
handsome stone and brick building. Another edifice, where that lately
stood, commonly called Surgeon's Hall, has been erected; it is arched
underneath, and supported upon pillars, and is used as a place of
accommodation for witnesses and other persons, while waiting for the
trials during session time.

~102~~ This prison, until within these few years back, was a place of
confinement as well for debtors as felons, but by late arrangements,
and the erection of the new gaol in Whitecross-street, Newgate has now
become the receptacle of felons only.{1}

1 Newgate has been the scene of two remarkable events, which
frequently serve as eras of reckoning