risoners try'd, continue four or five Days successively;
during which time, the _Old-Bailey-Yard_ is crouded with an idle
disorderly Crew of Persons of both Sexes, who have no other Business
but to obstruct those who have any unwish'd for Avocation to the
Place----In one Corner stands a Circle, compos'd of, perhaps, a
Baker's-Boy, a Journeyman-Shoemaker, a Butcher's-'Prentice, and a
Bailiff's-Follower, telling _how it was_; By what _means such a Robber
was taken_; _Who his Relations are_; One boasting of _being his near
Neighbour_; and another of an intimate _Acquaintance with him_,
&c.----In another, a heap of Earthen-ware Women, with Straw Hats, and
their black and blue Eyes and swoln Faces, lamenting the Fate of _poor
Bob_, or _Jemmy_, _hoping the L--d will deliver him out of the Hands
of his Adversaries_; meaning the Laws of his Country----In a third, is
a row of _Spittle-field Weavers_, with the Lice passing in Review over
their Shoulders, before two or three lazy Silver-button'd Alehouse
Fellows at their Elbows; near whom, are four or five old Women,
shaking their Heads _at the Wickedness of the Times_, and what _a
likely young Fellow pass'd just now to his Trial_, wondering _that
Youth won't take warning_, &c.----A Yard farther, two or three
Grenadiers together, with a red-faced Serjeant or Corporal of the Foot
Guards, ready to rap a Reputation for some offending Brother. These,
together with two or three Dozen of Whores and Thieves from
_Rosemary-lane_ and St. _Giles's_, and a Company of idle Sailors from
_Wapping_, resolve themselves into Committees of threes, fours, and
fives, all over the Sessions-house-yard, and there debate on the Fates
and Circumstances of the Criminals, till the latest Hour of the
Court's sitting, be the Season ever so rigorous, or their Affairs at
home ever so pressing. But sometimes, by the sudden and hasty turning
in of a Coach, these Committees are all suspended, and squeez'd up
against the Walls, or else oftentimes, through their being a little
too verbose and vociferous; the Court, by their Officer upon the
Leads, calls them to Peace and Order.

Nor are the Taverns, Ale-houses, and Brandy-shops in the Neighbourhood
less fill'd with idle Spectators: for, besides the Prosecutors and
their Witnesses, (which must necessarily attend) there are infinite
Numbers of _Watch-makers_, _Barbers_, _Poulterers_, _Engravers_, and
other Artizans and Handicraft Tradesmen, who have no other Business