I have every reason to believe, were weights, or something
which they had obtained in a similar manner. Wishing to ascertain the
fact, I approached them, but they no sooner perceived me, than the
little fellow who had been the principal actor in the affair, called
out "_Nose, Nose_,"--a signal-word, no doubt, agreed upon amongst
them,--when they all ran down some obscure alleys. I followed, but
was knocked down, as if by accident, by two ill-looking fellows, who
continued to detain me with apologies till the boys had got safely
away. I have little doubt that this was an instance of that organized
system of depredation of which I have before spoken, and that the
man who took so active a part at the first, was at the bottom of
the business; and, in fact, the tutor and employer of the predatory
urchins. His activity in preventing the boy from being taken back to
the shop--his anxiety to promote a subscription for the boy,--and,
lastly, his threat of personal violence if I interfered in the matter,
by continuing to question the child,--all these circumstances confirm
me in the opinion.

It is only by the knowledge of this fact--the association of infant
offenders with those of maturer and hardened habits--that we can
account for such cases as the following.--On the 17th of July, 1823,
a child _only seven years old_, was brought before the magistrate at
Lambeth Street office, charged with frequently robbing his mother,
and was ordered to be locked up all night in the gaol-room. In the
evening, however, when his mother returned, he forced his way out of
the room, and behaved with such violence that the attendants were
obliged to iron both his hands and legs! There can be no doubt that
this child had been for a long time under the instruction and evil
influence of some old and hardened offender; he must, indeed, have
undergone much training before he could have arrived at such a pitch
of hardihood, as to make it necessary to handcuff and fetter a child
of so tender an age; and to enable him to hold even the magistrates,
officers, and his own parent, at defiance.

The following cases afford further proof of the same lamentable truth;
the first is extracted from a morning paper of the 20th of September,
1824. "A little boy, not more than _six years of age_, was brought
before the Lord Mayor at the Mansion House, on Saturday, the 18th
instant, having been found in a warehouse, where he had secreted
himself for the purpose of th