122 CONTRAST. 



not be considered out of place if I here 

 give a slight sketch, or general outline, of 

 this sect of the community as it at that 

 time existed a time of transition, be it 

 remembered, from the old school to the 

 new ; from the votaries of gin and beer 

 from those who delighted in the purly 

 dews of the morning to those who 

 basked in the noonday sunshine of Sherry 

 or Moselle; from the old box-coat, with 

 its hundred capes, slouched hat, and 

 huge bare chapped hands, to the cape and 

 Mackintosh, nobby tile, and white gloves. 



I have in a former chapter given an 

 account of the peculiar sort of depreda- 

 tions committed on the poor sailors, 

 with which I was afterwards made ac- 

 quainted; these, though no doubt com- 

 mon, were confined to one or two par- 

 ticular roads. 



But the old school had passed away 

 with the clumsy vehicles, and coarse and 



