een-featured, dapper-looking men, who appear as if they
had never been young and would never be old, clothed in habiliments of
sober hue, seemingly as unchangeable as themselves. They walk with a
hurried step, and a somewhat important swing of the unoccupied arm. A
smaller packet of the aforesaid tape-tied paper peeps from either
pocket; they look right on, and hasten forward as if the fortunes of
half the world rested upon their shoulders, and the wisdom in the
briefs at their elbow had all been distilled from the skull covered by
that napless hat. If you do not move out of the way, you will probably
be knocked down and trodden upon by them--unconsciously of course.
They are _attorneys' clerks_.

'The second species found in this region are more youthful in aspect,
carry themselves with more swagger, wear their hats jantily, with
greasy curls coaxed to project beyond the brim. They affect a sort of
secondhand gentility, cultivate great brooches, silver guard-chains,
and whiskers, and have the air of persons claiming vice-royalty in the
dominions in which they live and move and have their being. They are
_barristers' clerks_.

'The third class are gentlemanly but very shabbily dressed men, who
look as if they were thinking of something beside themselves. They are
of all ages, and statures, and complexions; of feature of all degrees
of ugliness _in form_ and beauty of _expression_. You cannot mistake
them; there is a family-likeness running through all of them. They are
_barristers_.

'The fourth species are composed of men of busy, bustling aspect,
arrayed for the most part in garments of formal cut, and of the
fashion of a bygone day. They _always_ look as ordinary men do when
told on some pressing emergency to "look sharp." Their countenances,
motions, and gait express thought and anxiety. They hurry onward,
noticing nothing and nobody. They are _attorneys_.

'Lastly, you discern a few wasted forms and haggard faces, on which
lines are traced by the icy finger of Disappointment, and garments,
growing ragged, ill protect from the keen draughts that play through
these passages hearts aching with the sickness of hope deferred. The
pockets, though tightly buttoned, are lank and light. They step
briskly and eagerly onward, if entering; they creep slowly, if passing
out toward the street. They are _clients._'

This is the Temple, and these are its denizens; but in pursuing your
way, as you emerge suddenly from the hug