ctness of the
rule above alluded to, as well as of the rigour with which the trade
is carried on. We refer to a ragged, shirtless, and harmlessly insane
Italian lad, who, under the guardianship of one of the piano-mongers,
is driven forth daily into the streets, carrying a blackened and
gutted, old piano-case, in which two strings only of the original
scale remain unbroken. The poor unwashed innocent transports himself
as quickly as possible to the genteelest neighbourhood he can find,
and with all the enthusiasm of a Jullien, commences his monotonous
grind. Three turns of the handle, and the all but defunct instrument
ejaculates 'tink;' six more inaudible turns, and then the responding
string answers 'tank.' 'Tink--tank' is the sum-total of his
performance, to any defects in which he is as insensible as a blind
man is to colour. As a matter of course, he gets ill-treated, mobbed,
pushed about, and upset by the blackguard scamps about town; and were
it not for the police, who have rescued him times without number from
the hands of his persecutors, he would long ere now have been reduced
to as complete a ruin as his instrument. In one respect, he is indeed
already worse off than the dilapidated piano: he is dumb as well as
silly, and can only utter one sound--a cry of alarm of singular
intensity; this cry forms the climax of pleasure to the wretches who
dog his steps, and this, unmoved by his silent tears and woful looks,
they goad him to shriek forth for their express gratification. We have
stumbled upon him at near eleven at night, grinding away with all his
might in a storm of wind and rain, perfectly unconscious of either,
and evidently delighted at his unusual freedom from interruption.

8. Flageolet-organists and pianists. It is a pleasure to award praise
where praise is due, and it may be accorded to this class of grinders,
who are, to our minds, the elite of the profession. We stated above
that some of the piano-grinders contrive, notwithstanding their
difficult position, to save money and set up for themselves. It is
inevitable that the faculty of music must be innate with some of these
wandering pianists, and it is but natural that these should succeed
the best, and be the first to improve their condition. The instrument
which combines a flageolet-stop with a piano is generally found in the
possession of young fellows who, by dint of a persevering and savage
economy, have saved sufficient funds to procure it. I