lace of
residence, or the most trifling accommodation, there are fees to pay,
even on entering a prison."

"In that case then," said Tallyho, "a man is actually obliged to pay for
going to a prison."

"Precisely so, unless he is willing to mingle with the very lowest order
of society. But come, we will walk into the Coffee-room, and take a view
of the inmates."

Upon entering this, which was a small dark room, they heard a great
number of voices, and in one corner found several of the prisoners
surrounding a Bagatelle-board, and playing for porter, ale, &c; in
another corner was a young man in close conversation with an
Attorney; and a little further distant, was a hard-featured man taking
instructions from the Turnkey how to act. Here was a poor Player, who
declared he would take the benefit of the Act, and afterwards take a
benefit at the Theatre to reestablish himself. There a Poet racking
his imagination, and roving amidst the flowers of fancy, giving a few
touches by way of finish to an Ode to Liberty, with the ~379~~ produce
of which he indulged himself in a hope of obtaining the subject of his
Muse. The conversation was of a mingled nature. The vociferations of the
Bagatelle-players--the whispers of the Attorney and his Client--and the
declarations of the prisoner to the Turnkey, "That he would be d------d
if he did not sarve 'em out, and floor the whole boiling of them,"
were now and then interrupted by the notes of a violin playing the most
lively airs in an animated and tasteful style. The Performer however was
not visible, but appeared to be so near, that Merrywell, who was a great
lover of music, beckoned his friends to follow him. They now entered a
small yard at the back of the house, the usual promenade of those who
resided in it, and found the Musician seated on one of the benches,
which were continued nearly round the yard, and which of itself formed
a panorama of rural scenery. Here was the bubbling cascade and the lofty
fountain--there the shady grove of majestic poplars, and the meandering
stream glittering in the resplendent lustre of a rising sun. The waving
foliage however and the bubbling fountain were not to be seen or heard,
(as these beauties were only to be contemplated in the labours of the
painter;) but to make up for the absence of these with the harmony
of the birds and the ripplings of the stream, the Musician was
endeavouring, like an Arcadian shepherd with his pipe, to make the
woo