EAST LONDON 207 



remote country inn, very restful to London 

 eyes. It is also a place of memories, but these 

 are not all of sweet or pleasant things. The 

 White House was the centre and headquarters 

 of the Hackney Marsh sportsmen, and the sports 

 they followed were mostly of that description 

 which, albeit still permissible, are now generally 

 regarded as somewhat brutal and blackguardly 

 in character. 



Eabbit coursing, or rabbit worrying, with 

 terriers ; and pigeon, starling, and sparrow 

 shooting from traps, were the favourite pastimes. 

 The crowds which gathered to witness these 

 matches were not nice to see and hear, nor 

 were they representative of the people of any 

 London district ; they were, in fact, largely com- 

 posed of the lowest roughs drawn from a popula- 

 tion of a million souls — raucous-voiced, lawless, 

 obscene in their language, filthy in their persons, 

 and vicious in their habits. Yet you will find 

 many persons, not of this evil description, who 

 lament that these doings on the Marsh have been 

 abolished, so dear is sport of some kind, involv- 

 ing the killing of animals, to the natural man ! 

 Others rejoice at the change. One oldish man, 

 who said that he had known and loved the 



