98 FRIARY COURT. 



Nevertheless there is no lack of Scott's XXX., at- 

 tempered with magnums of " Cawsand water,'' that 

 never was intimidated by the roguish eye of a gauger, 

 nor is there a deficiency of beef steaks and onions, 

 and gentle pilchards stewed in cream, according to 

 the well approved usance of our beloved natal county 

 Devonshire. The uprorious melodies which charm 

 away the Saturday nights, in Friary Court, had no 

 doubt most veritable protoi^ypes in the dithyrambics 

 of the slee/ old monks. ,^> 



Honest men and thieves, the former existing by 

 the sweat of their brows the latter by that of their 

 genius, are oddly mixed up in this epitome of St. 

 Giles'. Beggars by profession ; itinerant match- 

 sellers ; tape venders ; knife grinders ; purveyors of 

 full, true, and particular accounts of all bloody mur- 

 ders ; pick-pockets and other conveyancers ; black- 

 ing manufacturers ; and every other variety of rogues 

 and vagabonds may be found among the inmates. 



Diogenes would have been completely at home in 

 the sleeping apartments, so would the whole batch 

 of our present utilitarian philosophers ; there is 

 nothing like parade or ostentation here, no straining 

 after effect, no fond dalliance with the vanities of 

 life. The beds are ranged on both sides of the room, 

 not on bedsteads, but on the floor, with perhaps an 

 interval of six inches between each; these beds are 

 constructed of straw without any casing of ticken, 

 to facilitate the shaking up and making thereof. 

 This straw has done so much duty that it could not at 

 first sight be distinguished from chaff, and most 

 assuredly, by a thorough exploring of these resting 

 places, Mr. Rennie or James F. Stevens would find 

 a glorious entomological harvest. Bed clothes there 

 are none, each" traveller sleeps in the habiliments 

 which decorate him by day. The room is bona fide 

 a bed-room, neither table nor chair is ever admitted, 

 the only extra piece of furniture being one of Corrie's 

 little half-pint Scotch ale bottles, which does duty as 

 a candle-stick. 



