owd became so dense as to be hardly passable. The
spectators consisted of both sexes, of all ages and degrees. But how shall
I describe the scene that presented itself? A large field of several acres
was filled with tents, stages and booths, with Punch and Judys, quack
doctors, mountebanks and monkeys, and cages containing wild animals of
various kinds. The shouting of people, the cry of beasts, the beating of
drums, the discord of the abortive attempts at music, producing such a
triumph of discord as beggars description. 'Verily,' thought I, 'time
cannot have diminished the glories of Bartholomew Fair.'

Years have rolled on and passed by like the waves of the ocean, since I
traversed the streets of London, but many a laugh have I had to myself as
memory recalled a whimsical mistake which I stumbled upon in my
peregrinations. In passing the streets I frequently saw fine
portly-looking men dressed in blue coats, faced and trimmed with a
profusion of broad gold lace; breeches and white stockings, and shoes with
large buckles, and on their heads cocked hats or chapeaux, as large as
coach-wheels. 'Thinks I to myself,' the continental wars are over, England
has recalled her fleets, and the streets of London are swarming with
admirals of the white and blue, off duty. What a blunder! They were a pack
of fat, lazy footmen! My respect for what I supposed were the heroes of
'England's wooden walls' was turned into contempt for men who could debase
themselves by strutting about in the livery of those whom God created of
the same materials as themselves. I sometimes (but very rarely) see such
things in my own country; but when I do, my face burns with indignation at
both master and man, to think that the one should require, and that the
other should submit to such degradation.

I spent two or three weeks, as above stated, endeavoring in the mean time
to get away as a hand on board some vessel bound to any port out of the
jurisdiction of the British government. This I found more difficult than I
had supposed; for London was at this time literally crowded with seamen
dismissed from the China, Bengal and West-India fleets. I began to be
anxious, as my money was getting rather low; and although I felt
comparatively safe from being discovered among so great a multitude, still
I thought it much the safest plan to get off if I could. It would have
been well for me if I could have accomplished it, for notwithstanding my
supposed security,