childhood of London, its bridges, towers and domes, came
rushing and crowding upon my memory. It was lamp-light when we landed at
Wapping, (gas was then unknown,) and I felt the full force of my lonely
condition. Young and inexperienced; surrounded by vast multitudes, yet
known to none; I was completely bewildered.

I was aroused from my reverie by a person touching my elbow, and inquiring
if I wanted lodgings. He was a keeper of a boarding-house; and thinking I
might as well be imposed upon by him as by any other of the fraternity, I
accepted his offer to show me to his house. I went home with him, and
agreed to pay him a guinea per week for such board and accommodations as
might be had for half that price by any one but a stranger. I ate more
fresh salmon during the short time I tarried with him, than I ever did
before or since. I infer from this that it must have been very cheap, as
his object was more to make money than to accommodate. I was in London
about three weeks, and during that time made the best use of my poor means
to learn all I could of a place I had longed but never hoped to see. As I
traversed Tower Hill, my mind wandered back for centuries, and dwelt upon
the strange events in history which had been enacted there; of the soil
where I stood, that had been moistened by the blood of monarchs, soldiers
and statesmen. As I gazed upon the massive gray walls of the Tower, the
magic scenes of Shakspeare arose, and passed in review before me. I
thought of Gloucester, Clarence, Hastings, Henry VI., his two murdered
nephews: then came forth the unhappy Jane Shore, pale, exhausted, and
starving; no one daring to offer a mouthful of food to save the poor
wretch from death. But the scene changes. It is night; and I see Falstaff
and his companions at the rising of the moon, 'by whose light they steal.'
They go forth and are lost sight of in the misty shadows of those dark,
time-worn buildings; and anon we hear him waging battle with the 'ten men
in buckram suits.'

Bartholomew Fair came on while I was in London. This I was desirous of
witnessing; to see how far it would accord with the descriptions by 'rare
Ben Jonson,' some centuries before. The weather proved remarkably fine,
and I set out with my curiosity on tip-toe to see the sport. I had some
distance to go; and as I turned up one street and down another, the throng
of people increased, until my arrival at Smithfield, where the fair was
held, and where the cr