up" at the corner of Fleet and Ann streets. Then we
notice two ladies who rejoice in the mellifluous names of "Bald-head"
and "Cockroach," and who are both worthy representatives from Keith's
Alley. These, with a small sprinkling of ebony lasses and their
attendant cavaliers, make up the very respectable assemblage.

And now everybody brightens up, as a couple of colored gentlemen enter
the cellar, and seating themselves upon a raised platform termed by
courtesy "the orchestra," commence tuning a fiddle and base viol,
preparatory to a dance by "all the characters."--Away the musicians
glide into the harmonious measures of a gay quadrille--and to say the
truth, the music is excellent, for Picayune and Joe are very skillful
performers on their respective instruments; and are well qualified to
play for a much more select and fashionable auditory. And now the
voluptuous Kitty Cling-cling is led to the centre of the festive hall by
a sable mariner, and begins to foot it merrily to the dulcet strains;
while Bald-head and Cockroach find partners in two African geniuses,
whose dress and general appearance would most decidedly exclude them
from admission into a fancy ball at Brigham's. Away they go, through all
the intricate mazes of the giddy dance. But see--a crowd of well-dressed
but dissipated young men enter the cellar, their wild looks and
disordered attire plainly indicating that they are on a regular "time."
Those young men have been imbibing freely at some fashionable saloon in
Court or Hanover street, and have come to consummate the evening's "fun"
by having a dance with the fallen goddesses of Ann street. With a
facetious perversity, they select as partners the most hideous of the
negro women, and "mix in" the dance with a relish that could not be
surpassed if their partners were each a Venus, and the cellar a
magnificent hall of Terpsichore. The dance concluded, they throw down a
handful of silver upon the counter, and invite "all hands to take a
drink," but very rarely drink themselves in such a place, well knowing
the liquor to be unworthy the palate of men accustomed to the superior
beverages of the aristocratic establishments. At the completion of this
ceremony, they take their departure, to visit some other "crib," and
repeat the same performances.

But let us (supposing ourselves to be invisible) pass from the dance
hall and enter the adjoining apartment, which is smaller. Seated around
a rough deal table are