ninitiated and the
moralist with the most appalling sentiments of horror and dismay. Yet
within this _saloon (see plate)_ did we enter, at four o'clock in the
morning, to view the depravity of human nature, and watch the operation
of licentiousness upon the young and thoughtless.

[Illustration: page354]

A Newgate turnkey would, no doubt, recognize many old acquaintances; in
the special hope of which, Bob Transit has faithfully delineated some
of the most conspicuous characters, as they appeared on that occasion,
lending their hearty assistance in the general scene of maddening
uproar. It was past five o'clock in the morning ere we quitted this den
of dreadful depravity, heartily tired out by the night's adventures,
yet solacing ourselves with the reflection that we had seen much and
suffered little either in respect to our purses or our persons.

VISIT TO WESTMINSTER HALL.

_Worthies thereof--Legal Sketches of the Long Robe--The
Maiden Brief--An awkward Recognition--Visit to Banco Regis--
Surrey Collegians giving a Lift to a Limb of the Late,
"Thus far shalt thou go and no farther"--Park Rangers--Visit
to the Life Academy--R--A--ys of Genius reflecting on the
true line of Beauty--Arrival of Bernard Black-mantle in
London--Reads his Play and Farce in the Green Rooms of the
two Theatres Royal, Drury Lane and Covent Garden--Sketches
of Theatrical Character--The City Ball at the Mansion House--
The Squeeze--Civic Characters--Return to Alma Mater--The
Wind-up--Term ends_.

~355~~A note from Dick Gradus invited Echo and myself to hear his
opening speech in Westminster Hall. "I have received my _maiden brief_"
writes the young counsel, "and shall be happy if you will be present at
my first attempt, when, like a true _amicus curio_, the presence of an
old school-fellow will inspire confidence, and point out what may strike
him as defective in my style." "We will all go," said Transit; "Echo
will be amused by the oratory of the bar, and I shall employ my pencil
to advantage in taking notes, not of _short hand_, but of _long heads_,
and still _longer faces_." The confusion created by the building of
the new courts at Westminster has literally choked up, for a time, that
noble specimen of Gothic architecture--the ancient hall; the King's
Bench sittings are therefore temporarily held in the Sessions House,
a small, but ~356~~rather compact octangular building, on