IN THE OLD KENT ROAD 21 



especial he would select. Taking a tramcar from the 

 " Elephant and Castle," he would ask the conductor 

 to set him down by the bridge that crosses the Grand 

 Surrey Canal, where the great gasometers of the 

 South London Gas Company rear themselves high in 



SATURDAY XIGHT IX THE OLD KEXT ROAD. 



air above mean houses and third-rate shops. Arrived 

 here, he would select, as the best j^oint of view, the 

 broad entrance of a large public-house, outside of 

 which the omnibuses stop in their career between the 

 Borough and New Cross ; and it is very likely that 

 the thing which happened to me while sketching here 

 would also befall him ; that is to say, some short-sighted 

 or dull-witted old lady would probably dig him in the 

 ribs with the ferrule of her umbrella, and say, " Young 



