neighbour, was fast nailed up, and bore evident marks that many a sick
man had leaned against it. The door-light--the window above the
door--had been taken out, or what is more likely, knocked out, and its
place supplied with a wooden shutter, which was raised up during the
day, to let in the light, and air: and as for the window itself, with
the exception of a few panes of glass in the centre, here and there
patched with brown paper, it was almost wholly made up with squares of
wood--giving ocular proof that glass was of a very brittle nature in
St. Giles's.

After satisfying ourselves thus far, we proceeded to explore the
interior. A narrow passage ran between the houses, and led into a
tolerably large court, which, with those two, contained the number of
houses already stated. At the foot of this entry stood two or three
Moll Flanders looking husseys, who, it may be supposed, did not
neglect a passing salute. Farther up the yard, were some half-dozen
fellows, in parti-coloured dresses, (and not over particular about
shoes and stockings) smoking their cutties, and gambling at
pitch-penny.

We next proceeded to the kitchen--and a den-like retreat it was--dark
and gloomy from the partial light let in by the few remnants of glass,
it seemed well calculated to harbour felon thoughts. The room itself
was moderate enough in size--a good fire, and an excellent grate,
containing a copper of boiling water, always kept full by a pipe
conveyed to it from a cask raised on one side of the fire-place, was
all that we could see that approached to anything like luxury or
comfort. Beneath this cask lay a heap of coke and coal, and a
coal-heaver's shovel leaned against the wall, at the service of any
one who loved a cheerful hearth. The floor and walls did not differ
much in colour, the former being of a dusky hue, that knew of no other
purifier save the birchen broom; and the latter, a dirty red--a daub
long since and clumsily made. A cuckoo-clock ticked on one side of an
old cupboard, and before the window was spread a large deal table, at
which sat the landlord playing at cards with a couple of ruffian-like
fellows. A small table (whose old-fashioned, crooked, mahogany legs,
showed that it had once been in a more honoured place; but the rough
deal covering with which it had been repaired, denoted that it was now
only fit for _cadger's plate_)--stood at the other end of the room,
behind the door. A man, in a decent but faded suit